Shakespeare References in Man In Furs

Man In Furs is a graphic novel depicting the life of Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch, a writer known mostly for Venus In Furs. This book contains references to Hamlet. Wanda Von Sacher-Masoch attends a party, though not invited. She approaches Monsieur Mounet-Sully, and says to him, “I had the pleasure of seeing you in Hamlet at The Comedie-Francaise” (p. 96). He replies, “Ah, that year I was in competition with another Hamlet, that insipid Philippe Garnier” (p. 96). The man turns his back on Wanda and remarks to another man, “But he had Sarah Bernhardt for an Ophelia!” (p. 96).

Man In Furs was written by Catherine Sauvat and Anne Simon, and was originally published in French. The English edition I read was published in November 2021.

Shakespeare Reference in The Blood Of His Servants

Malcolm C. MacPherson’s The Blood Of His Servants, which recounts the tracking down of an unusual Nazi war criminal, contains one Shakespeare reference. MacPherson writes: “Now, the main points dealt with, Menten pulled his trump. Certainly, his case was lost in this court, this ‘Shakespearean drama,’ as he called it” (p. 278).

The Blood Of His Servants was published in 1984. The Berkley edition was published in January 1986.

Shakespeare References in The Lord Of The Rings Part One: The Fellowship Of The Ring

Fantasy novels probably shouldn’t contain Shakespeare references, but there are a few references in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings Part One: The Fellowship Of The Ring. One of the characters says, “But all’s well as ends well” (p. 139), a variation on the title of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. There is then a reference to The Tempest, when another character says, “There was too much of that Mr. Underhill to go vanishing into thin air; or into thick air, as is more likely in this room” (p. 220). That line is a play on Prospero’s lines, “These our actors,/As I foretold you, were all spirits and/Are melted into air, into thin air.” Tolkien also refers to The Merchant Of Venice in Gandalf’s letter to Frodo: “All that is gold does not glitter” (p. 231). That line is an interesting variation of Shakespeare’s “All that glisters is not gold.” The line is repeated, with Frodo saying it (p. 325).

The Lord Of The Rings Part One: The Fellowship Of The Ring was originally published in 1954. The First Ballantine Books Edition was published it in 1965. The copy I read was from the seventy-eighth printing in January 1983.