''Hamlet Had an Uncle: A Comedy of Honor'' is a novel by

James Branch Cabell James Branch Cabell (; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and ''belles-lettres''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His work ...

, published in 1940. It is the second book of his trilogy ''Heirs and Assigns''. Cabell had incubated a 'true version' of the Hamlet story for decades, and based his tale on

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark ...

, whose epic saga recounts the story of the historical

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

, Prince of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

, his murder of his father

Horvendill Aurvandill (Old Norse) is a figure in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the god Thor tosses Aurvandill's toe – which had frozen while the thunder god was carrying him in a basket across the Élivágar rivers – into the sky to form a s ...

, and his rivalry with Wiglek, the Prince of Denmark.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' declared it to be "slightly salacious" and "highly specialized nature, for those who like this eclectic type of thing".HAMLET HAD AN UNCLE
reviewed at ''

''; published January 15, 1939; retrieved October 10, 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamlet Had An Uncle 1940 American novels Farrar & Rinehart books Novels by James Branch Cabell Novels based on Hamlet