Shakespeare References in Third Avenue

James Fritzhand’s novel Third Avenue contains a few Shakespeare references. There is one short paragraph in which Hamlet, Shakespeare and Romeo And Juliet are mentioned: “They circled Gramercy Park, then pulled over to the curb within sight of the statue of Edwin Booth posing as Hamlet. Beyond it, the ornate grillwork of the Players Club balcony seemed Shakespearean as well, a perfect setting for Juliet to call down to her beloved” (p. 181). James Fritzhand then refers to A Midsummer Night’s Dream by using the word “puckish”: “Then, rising up out of the water, a mermaid, flat-fronted, long-waisted, a face with sharp, puckish features, short gold hair like a cap pulled close to her ears” (p. 210). There is also a reference to Macbeth, with Fritzhand writing, “Michael thinks making money is the be-all and end-all of running a store” (p. 430). In Act I Scene vii of Macbeth, Macbeth says, “if the assassination/Could trammel up the consequence, and catch/With his surcease success; that but this blow/Might be the be-all and the end-all here.” And there is one other reference to Shakespeare: “You can think whatever you please, Mother. But in the words of the immortal Bard, you can also stick it up your ass” (p. 441).

Third Avenue was published in 1979, with the first Jove edition published in April of that year.