Laura Bohannan's Pick From The Past

Laura Bohannan recalls telling the story of Hamlet to elders of the Tiv tribe in West Africa. As she tells the story to the elders, they often refute her interpretation and insist that their own interpretation is correct. An elder even says, “We, who are elders, will instruct you in their true meaning…” Bohannan’s Pick from the Past shows how cultures can interpret works of literature in different and unexpected ways. For example, the elders offer an unusual claim that Laertes killed his sister, Ophelia, hoping to profit from selling her body. Although the elders have unconventional interpretations, the lens of the Tiv people give an unprecedented and unique way to understand a work of literature.