The Romance of Three Hamlets Shakespeare through a Chinese Prism

"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.