Too, Too Solid Flesh

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Too, Too Solid Flesh is a cyberpunk murder mystery by Nick O'Donohoe. It was published by TSR in 1989.

Contents

Synopsis

In a dystopian future, Capek the roboticist builds a troupe of androids specifically to perform Hamlet . When he is murdered, the Prince Hamlet android decides to investigate.

Reception

Dragon commended O'Donohoe's portrayal of the "characters [as] true both to their theatrical roles and their larger personalities", stating that the novel was "among the most thoughtful examinations of roles and role-playing", but noted that readers unfamiliar with Shakespeare may be confused. [1] Io9 included it on a list of "coolest Shakespeare riffs in science fiction and fantasy". [2] Shakespearean scholar Todd Borlik compared it to Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep , with "a genuine philosophical intelligence belied by its pulp fiction exterior", lauding O'Donohoe for having "ingeniously retool(ed)" Hamlet in order to "exalt the post-human"; Borlik also noted the dramatic irony of Horatio being a human pretending to be an android who had infiltrated a troupe of androids pretending to be humans, and then being unable to pass. [3]

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References

  1. The Role of Books, by John C. Bunnell, in Dragon #157 (May 1990)
  2. Coolest Shakespeare Riffs in Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Charlie Jane Anders and Lauren Davis; at Io9; published September 9, 2010; retrieved October 4, 2018
  3. SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET IN AN ERA OF TEXTUAL EXHAUSTION, edited by Sonya Freeman Loftis, Allison Kellar, and Lisa Ulevich; chapter 2: "Post-human Hamlets: Ghosts in the Machine", by Todd Andrew Borlik; published November 27, 2017 , by Routledge