Hunt, Marvin W.

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Hunt, Marvin W.

PERSONAL:

Male. Education: East Carolina University, B.A., M.A.; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ph.D., 1987.

ADDRESSES:

Office—North Carolina State University, Department of English, Tompkins Hall, Box 8105, Raleigh, NC 27695-8105. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, Department of English, lecturer.

MEMBER:

Modern Language Association, the Shakespeare Association of America, Southeastern Renaissance Conference.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Two fellowships at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC.

WRITINGS:

Looking for Hamlet, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including the North Carolina Literary Review, Atlanta Journal/Constitution, and New York Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and educator Marvin W. Hunt serves on the faculty of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he is a member of the Department of English. His primary areas of research and academic interest focus on Renaissance studies, with a particular emphasis on the literature of the Tudor-Stuart period, including that by authors Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare. Hunt has served as a fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, and is a member of the Shakespeare Association of America, the Southeastern Renaissance Conference, and the Modern Language Association. In addition to his academic duties, Hunt contributes book reviews and articles regularly to a wide range of periodicals, including the North Carolina Literary Review, Atlanta Journal/Constitution, and New York Times, on topics as diverse as African American history, baseball, and travel. He is the author of Looking for Hamlet, which was published by Palgrave in 2007.

In Looking for Hamlet, Hunt offers readers a thorough examination of the history of the play that, more than 400 years after it was first performed, is not only the most often produced of Shakespeare's works, but the most frequently performed of any play ever written, regardless of language. Hunt delves into the history of the character of Hamlet that served as the inspiration for the framework of the play, going all the way back to what was known of Denmark in pre-Elizabethan times, based upon records maintained by both the Anglo Saxons and the French. He also discusses an early Elizabethan drama, long ago lost, that is supposed to be one of the foundations on which Shakespeare's effort was based. Hunt examines the three slightly different versions of Hamlet that survive from Shakespeare's day, analyzing the differences between them, which is primarily reflected in certain character motivations. He then continues on with an overview of the criticism of the play that has developed over the centuries, discussing the different approaches to the character and to the production as a whole. He includes not just straightforward literary interpretations but additional viewpoints, such as the analyses of Sigmund Freud regarding the psychological ramifications of Hamlet's behavior throughout the play. Shana C. Fair, writing for Library Journal, commented that "the book really gets interesting as Hunt explores the main schools of literary criticism and interpretation." Booklist reviewer Ray Olson concluded of the work that it "blends literacy and erudition into an intellectual brew as effervescent as the most sparkling after-theater discussion."