Shakespeare's King Lear is magnificent, appalling, soaring, banal, cruel, tender, funny and complex; the virtuous are punished, justice is rarely served (and lawyers are unloved). Its scope is so demanding that it's virtually impossible to stage and its end is simply shattering—in other words, it's very much like life.
To read the rest of the article, the latest in the Globe and Mail's 50 Greatest Books series, click here.
6 comments:
I enjoyed this article, thank you for the link. Recently I've been reading a lot about John Keats and he was very inspired by this play so I'm thinking of attempting it.
Great article - thanks for the link! I'm having a huge Mother's Day Book Giveaway, btw. Hope you'll stop by.
http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/
I love King Lear. It's about family and perhaps one of the most accessible of Shakespeare's works. Thanks for the link!
The best stage production I have ever seen of King Lear was at Stanford University in what seemed like a small room, it was so packed and we sat on the floor and on risers. We were right in front of the actors and the one doing King Lear was exceptional.
You never know where you are going to find a gem.
Kate, thanks for taking the time to provide the link. I have been partial to King Lear since my high school days. Great blog in general!
We just saw a local production of King Lear. It was wonderful. By the end I felt emotionally wrung out like a dishrag.
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