January ShakespeareCAT: King Lear and Its Themes

Welcome to ShakespeareCAT! This January we're focusing on King Lear and its themes.

The plot is simple. "King Lear divides his kingdom among the two daughters who flatter him and banishes the third one who loves him. His eldest daughters both then reject him at their homes, so Lear goes mad and wanders through a storm. His banished daughter returns with an army, but they lose the battle. . . ." --Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Shakespeare based the play on the Leir of Britain myth retold in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles. Holinshed's main source was Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain.

The picture above is by Edwin Austin Abbey and shows the scene in which daughter Cordelia bids farewell (Act I, Scene 1).

So what should you read? There's the play itself, of course. But you can read so much else to enjoy this month's topic.

A number of authors have written novels drawing on King Lear:

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. This powerful novel won the Pulitzer Prize, and it's the reason I picked this play as this month's theme. What a great book.

Fool by Christopher Moore, about King Lear's fool, Pocket.

Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn. King Lear in the modern corporate world.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Starts during a production of King Lear.

The Serpent's Tooth by Diana L. Paxson. The story told by Cordelia, the banished daughter.

We That Are Young by Preti Taneja. King Lear set in contemporary India.

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton. King Lear as adult epic fantasy.

The Green Road by Anne Enright. By the Irish Booker Prize winner.

Learwife by J. R. Thorp. The story of King Lear's wife.

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ETA other adaptations:
The Lobster Kings by Alexi Zentner. King Lear as a lobstering family in Maine/Canada
Lear by Edward Bond. A play.
What Now, King Lear? by Alistair Boyle. A mystery.
A Lear of the Steppes by Ivan Turgenev
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For nonfiction, try The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro.

The main themes of King Lear are aging, madness, and father-daughter relationships ("How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child", Act I, Scene 4). Share your favorite books on these themes!

A few lists to get you started:
Aging: The Top 9 Novels about Aging and Growing Old; Top 10 Books about Growing Old (The Guardian)
Madness: 50 Great Novels about Madness (Flavorwire); The Best Novels about Madness (The Guardian)
Father-daughter relationships: 10 Books about Complicated Father-Daughter Relationships (Book Riot); 9 Books About Fathers & Daughters That Both You And Your Dad Will Love (Bustle)

Finally, whatever you read, don't forget to post about it here and update the wiki.

I'm definitely going to begin with King Lear. If I have time, I will delve into one of the other books drawn from King Lear. I'm so excited!

I'll be reading a mystery, What Now, King Lear?.

The Lobster Kings by Alexi Zentner is also King Lear inspired. And then there is Edward Bond's Lear

I went on a King Lear binge last year: A Thousand Acres (very good), Dunbar (meh), The Lobster Kings (good), King Lear (Norton Critical Editions) (for the extra materials) and King Lear: Arkangel Shakespeare (an awesome recording but do not start with it if you had not read the play before - or if you do, get yourself a matching text - the Arkangels are based on the Pelican editions of the texts).

I had planned some more reading last year but then things happened and I never got around to them. Not sure how much time left I have on my dancing card for January (because it seems that everyone starts something in January) but I may be able to squeeze a novel or a play.

I'll start with the play.

Planning a re-read of Jessica Anderson's Tirra Lirra by the River for the ageing theme.

I have the play on hand; but if I finish early, I'd love to tackle The Year of Lear (by James Shapiro)

There's also King Lear of the Steppes by Turgenev...

I am thinking of The Changing Mind: A Neuroscientist's Guide to Ageing Well by Daniel Levitin.

I'm going to read King Lear.

I'm hoping to get Learwife by J.R. Thorp for Christmas. If that works out, that's what I'll be reading.

I'll try to pick up King Lear, if I find the time.

So many great options. I would like to read A Thousand Acres byt many others are calling me.

I am planning to read Homespun Suspicions by Olivia Newport as part of the story takes place in a retirement home. This will also tick the boxes for a couple of other challenges.

King Lear was the second Shakespeare play that I was assigned to read in high school after Romeo and Juliet. I liked it a lot and identified most with Goneril, even though she is not supposed to be the sympathetic one. I even did a monologue of hers for an acting class.

After that, we read A Thousand Acres, set my neighboring state of Iowa. Of course I had to see the movie when it came out and I also read Smiley's The Greenlanders. I am thinking about rereading A Thousand Acres and rewatching the movie. The Year of Lear is also tempting because my personal goals include biographies this year.

I'm planning on The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. I also have A Thousand Acres in the stacks, so I would love to also get to that one.

>16 Crazymamie: Both of those are on my WL!

>17 Tess_W: *grin*

Trying to stay up till midnight...I might make it! While "waiting" I finished King Lear. I have read Lear twice before. This time I purchased the No Fear Shakespeare edition. I read it through the first time in the regular vernacular of Shakespeare. I then read it through using the "modern" version and I really liked it. I won't give up the regular versions for anything, but I did get a new understanding of some of the passages I just passed over because I didn't have a clue, especially some references to mythology. I was unable to choose just one theme for this play, but I can narrow it down to two: greed and loyalty. It's very easy to pick out who is who. So glad I read this! 320 pages (160 for each version). 5 stars CAT: ShakespeareCAT

I read The Christmas Dress by Courtney Cole. It includes a father-daughter relationship and also elderly people.

I started reading The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 and enjoying it very much. So far, I've learned a lot of interesting history about King James, the plague, Guy Fawkes, witch hunts and more. I'm motivated to reread King Lear now, especially after seeing the nice review by >19 Tess_W:.

>21 mathgirl40: TY and I so want to read The Year of Lear. My library doesn't have it, so will have to wait as this is my book diet year!

I finished A Thousand Acres and realized that I did not remember as much from the book as I thought I did! It was 27 years ago that I read it, but 2 specific plot points stand out that I did not remember. I watched the movie and found the pace a little jarring. It seems like the first half of the book is about 15 minutes of the movie, which leaves another 90 minutes of story for the second half. Lots of dialogue and narration was word-for-word faithful, though.

I've finished What Now, King Lear?. A part-time detective is hired by the widow of a mega-wealthy businessman who was murdered in his mansion. He had suspected that he'd be murdered and put a clause in his will stipulating that none of his three terrible daughters, all married to even worse men, would receive their inheritances unless his killer was caught.

Even more than the story of Leir/Lear in Holinshed Shakespeare probably based his play on the old Leir play by the Queen's players c1590. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leir

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A05206.0001.001/1:2.1.1?rgn=div3;view=toc

>25 Crypto-Willobie: Thanks for sharing this link. I just finished The Year of Lear and the 1590 Leir play is indeed mentioned as a source, so I'm curious to see the text.

I finished A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley for this. I found the story engaging with a lot of layers and now I need to read a King Lear so I can compare them.

Finished King Lear audio by Wm Shakespeare. I think Jane Smi;let did a good job with the retelling with A Thousand Acres.

I have finished Ein König Lear aus dem Steppenland which was much shorter than expected and somewhat unsatisfactory.

I finished my reread of King Lear. Even though I'd read and watched this play a number of times, I'd forgotten how tense and exciting the plot is. The story is tragic and moving, but I also love Kent's creative insults, especially "Thou whoreson zed! Thou unnecessary letter!" (As a Scrabble fan, I found this one particularly amusing.)

>31 mathgirl40: I saw this play on the stage a few years ago, and the eyeball-snatching scene was especially memorable. The entire audience gasped in unison.

>32 LadyoftheLodge: There are definitely some horrifying scenes in the play!

Last night, I watched an RSC production of King Lear with Ian McKellen as Lear. The nice bit about DVDs is that you can follow the dialogue in the subtitles. I had quite forgotten how many characters end up dead in this.

Yesterday I decided to quit reading about Shakespeare and King Lear and sat down and read the play. Very few admirable characters and lots of deaths but interesting none the less.

My plan to read Learwife by J.R. Thorp in January was derailed by the book having small print and all dialogue - whether actual or in thought - appearing in italics and without the usual punctuation, a style I particularly dislike. I was looking forward to this one and will read it soon but the format is discouraging.

I read Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac. It's set during France's Bourbon Restoration, and the relationship between Pere Goriot and his two daughters is central to the book.