Romance of Three Hamlets

Hao Liu is associate professor of English literature and comparative literature at Tsinghua University. Her research interests are Shakespeare and Chinese literary traditions. Her papers on Shakespeare and Chinese drama have been published in international journals and presented at international conferences.

"Hamlet transformed into Chinese opera is an adaptation that leaves most Western Shakespeare scholars and Shakespeare lovers more than a little mystified. Hao Liu’s study opens our eyes and ears to the nature of the genre. She is an assured, thoughtful and unfailingly helpful guide to the range of responses to Hamlet that the form has generated in three strikingly different Chinese versions, making us able to understand them and enjoy them.”Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame, U.S.A.“With meticulous clarity, Hao Liu traces the layers of cultural reference, consonant and dissonant, that constitute three recent adaptations of Hamlet in three different traditions of Chinese opera. She reflects intelligently on this exemplary process of cultural exchange. I learned a lot.”Lars Engle, The University of Tulsa, U.S.A.

• I Introduction II Yue-Opera Hamlet and the Dual Tradition III Peking-Opera Hamlet and the Haunted Stage IV Kun-Opera Hamlet and the “I” between Tradition and the Present V Shakespeare and the Ageing Operas on the Scene