King Lear (Pelican Shakespeare)

From AudioFile
The Modern Library brings the BBC's radio production of King Lear to audio cassette. Alec Guiness is a splendid Lear, expert in his transition from a demanding and majestic father/king to a solitary, lunatic soul on a stormy mountain. Sarah Badel's Cordelia is astute and reflective. The combination of talents makes this tragedy one of the most poignant in all of Shakespeare's works. R.A.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Book Description
"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)

The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged.

Each volume features:
* Authoritative, reliable texts
* High quality introductions and notes
* New, more readable trade trim size
* An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts


Download Description
This is the first fully annotated critical edition of King Lear to appear for forty years. It includes a comprehensive account of Shakespeare's sources and the literary, political, and folkloric influences at work in the play; a detailed reading of the action, and a substantial stage history of major productions. Unlike previous editions, this one does not present a conflation of the Quarto and the Folio, but offers the latter as the authoritative text.


The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, performed in 1605-06 and published in a quarto edition in 1608. One of Shakespeare's finest tragedies, the work displays a pessimism and nihilism that make it a 20th-century favorite. The aging King Lear decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, allotting each a portion in proportion to the eloquence of her declaration of love. The hypocritical Goneril and Regan make grand pronouncements and are rewarded; Cordelia, the youngest daughter, who truly loves Lear, refuses to make an insincere speech to prove her love and is disinherited. The two older sisters mock Lear and renege on their promise to support him. Cast out, the king slips into madness and wanders about accompanied by his faithful Fool. He is aided by the Earl of Kent, who, though banished from the kingdom for having supported Cordelia, has remained in Britain disguised as a peasant. Kent brings Lear to Cordelia, who cares for him and helps him regain his reason. The Earl of Gloucester likewise spurns his honest son, Edgar, and believes his conniving illegitimate son, Edmund. Edmund allies himself with Regan and Goneril to defend Britain against the French army mobilized by Cordelia. He turns his father over to Cornwall--who gouges out Gloucester's eyes--then imprisons Cordelia and Lear, but he is defeated in battle by Edgar. Jealous of Edmund's romantic attentions to Regan, Goneril poisons her and commits suicide. Cordelia is hanged. Lear, broken, dies with her body in his arms.


Card catalog description
An edition of Shakespeare's tragedy, including discussion of its plot, themes, characters, language, production, and author.


From the Publisher
A king foolishly divides his kingdom between his scheming two oldest daughters and estranges himself from the daughter who loves him. So begins this profoundly moving and disturbing tragedy that, perhaps more than any other work in literature, challenges the notion of a coherent and just universe. The king and others pay dearly for their shortcomings--as madness, murder, and the anguish of insight and forgiveness that arrive too late combine to make this an all-embracing tragedy of evil and suffering.


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Hearing Lear, rather than seeing it, emphasizes the power of Shakespearean language. As the aging king who gives up his throne, Trevor Peacock deteriorates from petulance to madness. Gerard Murphy delivers Edmund's monologue on his bastard condition with masterful control, humanizing evil with an anger born of oversensitivity to injustice. Julia Ford brings a gentle strength to Cordelia; her voice alone is enough to convince that she is virtuous but not weaker for it. However, Lear is so complicated that even with striking sound effects this production is confusing at times. Some elements, such as Kent's disguise or Gloucester's blinding, must be seen for full effect. G.T.B. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine


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