Hamlet in Exile

Sailing West

by Ulf Kirchdorfer

Hamlet in Exile is a collection of poems in which Ulf Kirchdorfer imagines the Hamlet from Shakespeare’s play to travel to other parts of the world and in other periods of time. Poor Yorick had nothing on the Hamlet who ambles and sometimes tumbles from the Renaissance into the 21st century in this witty and ironic collection. The young prince goes fishing, skates on ice, paints, plays Jeopardy and the guitar, muses on the troubles of American poets who, he finds, have spun his anxieties into contemporary webs of contemplation. Kirchdorfer’s read his Ernest Jones, and his Hamlet is hung on pricks, pokes, holes, smacks, and snatches. This collection is a marvel of literary imagination. 

Order from any bookstore, local or online. This title is also available from Fleur Fine Books of Galveston, Texas. 

About the Author

Carol Coffee Reposa

Ulf Kirchdorfer was born in Sweden and grew up in Texas, where he lived in Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth. For the past 25 years, he has lived in Southwest Georgia. He was selected as the Carnegie Foundation U.S. Professor of the Year for the State of Georgia. For many years, Kirchdorfer’s work found expression in writing in popular and academic venues, focusing mainly on the art of poetry. Much of the work concerns animals and the intersection of humankind and nature.

Kirchdorfer is author of Chewing Green Leaves (poetry, Lamar University Literary Press). His other books are Swede Among the Rednecks (Nordstjernan Förlag), and The Great American Wise Ass Poetry Anthology (edited with Jerry Bradley, Lamar University Literary Press). His writing has appeared in magazines and journals. He is the recipient of the Boswell Poetry Prize.