Between the Lines: Piotr Sadowski

When did you first come up with the idea for the book?

I thought of writing a book about Hamlet as a born actor after the publication of one of my earlier books, Dynamism of Character in Shakespeare’s Mature Tragedies (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2003). There is a chapter in it on Hamlet, which I thought deserved a more comprehensive discussion about the possible reasons for the puzzling behaviour of the Danish Prince. (Needless to say, I was not the first to be puzzled by Hamlet’s behaviour.) In a book I had in mind at the time I wanted to demonstrate that Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a prince and heir to the throne, has, rather incongruously, given his political role a personality of a frustrated theatrical actor. I developed this thesis in my recently published book Histrionic Hamlet: Shakespeare’s Ultimate Metatheatrical Experiment. Teaching Shakespeare over the years has also given me an opportunity to rethink what happens in his plays, and new ideas would often arise in the classroom to inspire future research.

Did you start out with the intention of writing a book about a particular topic, or did a book begin to make sense as you were researching?

With my other books I would sometimes start with a vague idea, an inkling, which would become clearer and more focused during research and writing. In the present case, however, I knew from the start what I wanted to say: that Shakespeare’s play offers a stage representation of a histrionic personality, which in real life is a precondition for a career in performing arts. Hamlet’s deep frustration, melancholy, and his ultimate tragedy result mainly from the fact that as a prince he couldn’t follow his innate calling and become a theatrical actor but had to confront instead an ugly and brutal task of political assassination, which, by the way, he spectacularly mismanages. Hamlet has a natural passion for drama, not for political intrigues. During my research, which included the study of other plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, of relevant literary criticism from the last four hundred years, testimonies from actors who played Hamlet, and psychological research on acting, I have found sufficient support for my thesis.

What are the book's main ideas?

According to psychological research, the histrionic personality consists of a compulsive tendency to play-act, exaggerate emotions, succumb to illusions, seek attention through speech, body language, and costume, to be seductive and impulsive. Shakespeare’s Hamlet displays all of these traits—by temperament he is a drama queen rather than a politician. Incongruously, however, life has thrown him, against his will, in the middle of a ruthless power struggle requiring pragmatic rather than theatrical skills. His response to the task imposed on him - to avenge the murder of his royal father and restore political legitimacy - is consequently to strike a series of gratuitous, baffling, self-indulgent, evasive, inappropriate and neurotic poses. Such behaviour is captivating on a theatrical stage, but it is useless and counterproductive in politics. Unable to realise his potential as a professional actor, the Clown Prince bitterly play-acts anyway, turning all situations into opportunities of pretend play rather than effective political action. In consequence, he wastes tactical advantages over his enemies, endangers himself, and jeopardizes his revenge plan, if ever there was one.

What did writing a book allow you to do that wouldn’t have been possible in another medium eg. journal article?

Books naturally take longer to write than articles, but their larger scope provides an opportunity to digress, expand, and generally to indulge, if you like, one’s verbosity and imagination. Articles by comparison tend to be more focused and concise in their content and language, which requires—in my experience at least—more discipline. Personally, I’d rather write books than articles. In the present case, a book format allowed me to analyse in detail not only what happens in Hamlet, but also in Shakespeare’s other plays and in English Renaissance drama in general, to demonstrate how unique and experimental Shakespeare’s take on revenge tragedy in Hamlet was.

How did you decide which publisher to place the book with?

A writer’s choice is limited to publishers with a history of books in the area one hopes one’s book proposal would fit in. Routledge has an excellent Studies in Shakespeare series, and it seemed like a perfect home for my book.

How long did it take to write?

In the humanities, research typically consists of reading published sources and writing notes, which is the longest pre-writing stage in a book project. After thinking for several years about writing a book on Hamlet, it took me five or so years to research the topic. Writing the first draft of circa 100,000 words took me about six months, plus a few months of revision, during which time I was also looking for a publisher. Publishers nowadays often require detailed summaries of all chapters, as well as a sample chapter, in the initial proposal, so I always wait until I have the first draft of the book ready before I approach them (you can’t summarize persuasively a text that doesn’t yet exist). After Routledge expressed an interest in my book proposal, I was able to send them the entire manuscript quickly. The following peer review, my response to it, copyediting, proofreading, and printing took Routledge surprising less time, only about six months, than was the case with my other book projects, where it would take anything from a year to two years between being accepted and receiving the printed author copies (always a wonderful moment!). So fair play to Routledge for being so efficient.

Did you ever experience any moments of writer’s block? What did you do to overcome this?

I have never experienced a writer’s block, probably because I don’t write fiction. After investing several years of research in an intriguing topic, writing about it comes to me surprisingly easy. When I have all my research notes in the right order in front of me, the thing practically writes itself. The content is already there, the ideas have been thought through, so there is little to invent, there is no need to wait for an inspiration, and consequently no writer’s block—it’s almost a purely editorial task of transferring the material from the notes onto the first draft.

What advice would you give someone thinking about writing a book?

My writing experience is limited to academic books and articles, and I tend not to offer any advice. As Oscar Wilde said: “I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.” When I teach academic writing, I tell my students what I actually do, and what kind of writing regime works for me, rather than sententiously giving general advice. Every writer, of fact or fiction, must probably work out their own writing method, because writing, like other creative pursuits, is a very personal thing. I can only say, both from my own experience and from what I’ve read about other writers, that the secret of good writing seems to be: revision, revision, revision.

If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice before you started writing, what would that be?

I wish I had stayed consistently within one area of English, my original academic discipline. During my time as an academic teacher (a few decades now), I have taught and researched mainly in medieval and early modern literature, but I have also “digressed” into areas as diverse as systems theory of literature, cognitive semiotics, linguistics, gender studies, visual culture, and early cinema. It’s probably a matter of my individual intellectual temperament to be a little all over the place. These “digressions” all resulted in books and articles, but with hindsight I think I should probably have invested all my time in one area of English Studies. I have published two books on Shakespeare, and now I think I’m going to stay with the Bard for longer. In my next research project I want to examine the role of personal memory in the construction of dramatic characters and plots in Shakespeare’s plays. The project is still in its early stages, and I’m reading a lot of psychological books and articles on memory.