Author's preface & contents list to front; An erudite treatise on 'the problem of Hamlet'. The Scotsman John MacKinnon Robertson (1856-1933), rationalist and enemy of religion to the core, published over one hundred books and thousands of articles in fields as diverse as sociology, economics, history, anthropology, biblical criticism and literary criticism. This once widely known (and feared!) author was all too quickly forgotten after his death and his work is now seldom read. His acute and powerful literary criticism – much respected by T. S. Eliot – has not lost its relevance for late twentieth century readers.