The Klingon Hamlet
| The Klingon Hamlet | |
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| Author(s) | William Shakespeare (original story) |
| Original title | Hamlet Prince of Denmark: The Restored Klingon Version |
| Translator | Nick Nicholas Andrew Strader |
| Cover artist | Phil Foglio |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English / Klingon |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
| Publication date | February 2000 |
| Media type | Paperbook |
| Pages | 219 |
| ISBN | 0-9644345-1-2 |
| OCLC Number | 36666753 |
The Klingon Hamlet (full title: The Tragedy of Khamlet, Son of the Emperor of Qo'noS) was a project to translate William Shakespeare's Hamlet into Klingon, a constructed language first appearing in the television series Star Trek.
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Impetus [edit]
The impetus for the project came from a line from the motion picture Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in which the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon stated:
| “ | You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon. | ” |
The phrase "the undiscovered country" comes from Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1, line 79, in his famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy. The speech explicitly describes said country as "after death" (line 78), whereas Chancellor Gorkon interprets it as "the future".
The play was translated over several years by Nick Nicholas and Andrew Strader of the Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project, with feedback and editorial assistance from Mark Shoulson, d'Armond Speers, and Will Martin.
Shakespeare in the "original Klingon" is an echo in the novel of Vladimir Nabokov's eponymous hero Pnin, who taught his American college class that Shakespeare was much more moving "in the original Russian."
Style and format [edit]
The original English version of the play appears alongside its "original Klingon" translation. The "original Klingon" version has been adapted to reflect the play's history as originating from a Klingon source. Reference sections in the book show some literal translations of the Klingon body text.
According to a disclaimer, the project is written in a satirical style implied by Chancellor Gorkon's quote — that Shakespeare was actually a Klingon (named "Wil'yum Shek'sper") writing about the attempted coup of the Klingon empire. This is implied because the plot is based on predominantly Klingon themes and motifs as opposed to human themes and motifs, which were considered too primitive in comparison to the story of Hamlet during the time period in which it is set. The book also claims the notion that Shakespeare was a human poet during the late 16th century occurred after the United Federation of Planets instigated a large propaganda campaign in order to rally the human population against Klingons.
Publication [edit]
The Klingon Language Institute (KLI) printed and published a limited edition hardback version in 1996, entitled Hamlet Prince of Denmark: The Restored Klingon Version (ISBN 0-9644345-1-2)[1]
Star Trek publisher Pocket Books published the work as a trade paperback (ISBN 0-671-03578-9) in 2000.
References [edit]
External links [edit]
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