Shakespeare References in Pentimento

Lillian Hellman’s Pentimento contains two references to Shakespeare. The first is in “Julia,” with Hellman writing, “Once or twice we went up to the theatre in London, but she would sigh halfway through and say she had no feeling for the theatre, only Shakespeare on the page, and sometimes not even then” (p. 97). The second is in a chapter titled “Theatre.” Hellman writes, “Together they would sit on the stage until the second curtain call and go through a scene from Shakespeare or Ibsen or Chekhov, or a series of poems, anything that Digges had chosen to teach Monty” (p. 162). Pentimento was published in 1973.

 

Shakespeare References in Granta Issue 74

The summer 2001 issue of the literary magazine Granta contains a couple of Shakespeare references. The first comes in “Confessions Of A Middle-Aged Ecstasy Eater.” The anonymous author writes, “I do not mean to invoke images of Zen and Buddha – my son is roughly as Zen-like as Eminem – but the transformation was as striking as it was palpable, this sea change” (p. 20). That last phrase comes from The Tempest, where Ariel sings, “Nothing of him that doth fade/But doth suffer a sea change.” The second comes in “The Andes Of Martin Chambi,” written by Amanda Hopkinson. Hopkinson writes, “She preyed on innocuous and unlikely citizens until, with a cry of ‘Here’s my King Arthur!’ or ‘You are Ophelia: kindly weep!’ she would introduce them to her dressing-up trunk and her makeshift studio, to be transformed according to her personal vision” (p. 91). Hopkinson there refers to Hamlet’s Ophelia.

 

Shakespeare References in Fear Strikes Out

I've been reading my dad's baseball books, some of which contain Shakespeare references. I had seen the film adaptation of Fear Strikes Out, and now finally read the book, and found it contains a couple of Shakespeare references. The first is to a line from Hamlet, with Jim Piersall writing, "If I had known Murphy better, I would have realized that there was a method in his madness" (p. 90). That refers to a line that Polonius speaks, regarding Hamlet: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't." The second reference is to Shakespeare himself, and it comes in a passage that Piersall quotes from an issue of Sporting News from July 9, 1952: "The move was like sending Shakespeare out to write obituaries on a country weekly" (p. 171). The article's author, Roger Birtwell, was referring to the Red Sox sending Jim Piersall to the minor leagues to work on his hitting.

Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story was written by Jim Piersall and Al Hirshberg, and was published in 1955. The copy I read was a first edition.

Shakespeare References in The Curse Of The Bambino

Dan Shaughnessy's book The Curse Of The Bambino contains a few Shakespeare references. The first two are to Hamlet. Shaughnessy is talking about Don Zimmer working as a coach with the Yankees in 1983 and renting Bucky Fucking Dent's apartment. He writes: "Every night when coach Don Zimmer closed his bedroom door, the last thing he saw was a picture of Dent hitting the home run off Torrez. Good night, sweet prince" (p. 147). Obviously, that's a reference to Horatio's line, "Good night, sweet prince,/And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." A little later, Shaughnessy writes: "Sox fans expect something to go wrong. They go to the theater even though they have seen the play before. The cast changes and new liberties are taken with an ancient script, but Hamlet always dies in the end" (p. 158). Then in the book's epilogue, he quotes Lou Gorman: "Everything goes against the Red Sox. They're star-crossed lovers in a sense. The wrong thing always happens to the Red Sox" (p. 214). That's a little nod to Romeo And Juliet and the line "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life."

The Curse Of The Bambino was published in 1990. The copy I read, with the additional epilogue, was published in 1991.