Updike draws big audience

the author came to speak at Penn about his remake of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet.' Famed American author John Updike came to Penn yesterday to talk about his most recent and arguably most challenging work ever -- a refashioning of Shakespeare's Hamlet. A crowd of more than 300 people filled Logan Hall yesterday, some crouching in the aisles or standing up in back to hear Updike, 68, read three excerpts from his newly released novel Gertrude and Claudius. The author appeared as part of the School of Arts and Sciences' annual Dean's Forum. But Updike's story isn't what one might expect from reading Shakespeare's version of Hamlet -- the classic tale of a prince, Hamlet, tortured by the murder of his father at the hands his uncle, Claudius, who marries Hamlet's mother Gertrude. Gertrude and Claudius tells a sympathetic story of the royal couple, while Hamlet and his father are portrayed more negatively than in the original. "I was curious about some of the questions Hamlet himself raises. Did they [Gertrude and Claudius] have an affair while she was still married to Hamlet's father?" Updike asked. "I decided to take a stab at answering them." SAS Dean Samuel Preston opened the forum by naming 19 undergraduates and graduate students as 2000 Dean's Scholars and speaking about featured speaker. "Updike is not only one of the greatest living American writers, he is also one of the most wide-ranging," Preston said. Following Preston's introduction, Updike began to read from the first few pages of his novel, in which Gertrude's father Rorik is convincing her to marry the elder Hamlet. Updike briefly explained that Gertrude eventually bows to her father's will and marries Hamlet, leaving herself in an unhappy marriage. He then read the scene where Gertrude begins the affair with her husband's brother, Claudius. Gertrude succumbs to Claudius after he gives her a rare and beautiful silk robe. "She touched that shimmering cloth and in that touch was her undoing," Updike read. When the king discovers their affair, Claudius murders him by pouring poison into his ear as he slept. From this point in the novel on, Updike is rewriting Shakespeare -- an experience no author has undertaken lightly. "Once you begin [writing], it's intimidating but also exhilarating to be in the same universe as Shakespeare," Updike said. After reading, Updike accepted questions from the crowd about topics including the author's responsibility, academic criticism and his views on writing short stories. The audience of students, professors, staff and community members listened attentively and showered Updike with enthusiastic applause when he finished. "You first hear about someone trying to do a prequel to Shakespeare," College junior Sara Honig said, "but only this man could pull it off." And History graduate student and Dean's Scholar Elizabeth Pollard said, "I thought he was a fantastic speaker." She added that she enjoyed the first passage the most -- especially looking at Gertrude as a heroine. A Pennsylvania native, Updike has published 19 novels over the last 40 years. Rabbit Run (1960) and The Witches of Eastwick (1984) are among his best known. He has won numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes, and received the National Medal of Arts in 1989 from then-President George Bush. When Updike was asked whether he'll write more novels after taking on the Shakespeare re-write, he smiled. "I've written 19," he said and paused. "20 is a good number, isn't it?"

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