King Lear : Shakespeare's dark consolations / Arthur W. Frank.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Frank, Arthur W., author.

Series:

Oxford Academic.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kings and rulers in literature.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. King Lear.

Shakespeare, William.

Lear, King of England (Legendary character)--In literature.

Lear.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (176 pages) : illustrations (colour).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

The consolations of tragedy are dark, but their darkness is what rings true to readers whose lives already share it. In King Lear an enraged old man upends the lives of those around him. It's a story of loss, forgiveness, and deeper loss. To show how this story can console, Arthur Frank draws upon both the decades he has spent witnessing serious illness and his own experiences of ageing. His reading presents King Lear as a resource for people living lives that are troubled, exemplifying how to find consolation in literature. Shakespeare did not write self-help books, but his plays can help: not by fixing but by making liveable what cannot be fixed. Shakespeare's Dark Consolations invites readers, including those not already familiar with King Lear, to hear how the play's words can speak for us when our own words fail, and how its characters can speak to us, becoming our companions. Frank understands tragedy as a form of human relationship: a tragic sharing. Cordelia's words, 'We are not the first / Who with the best meaning have incurred the worst', express the companionship that makes vulnerability liveable. Shakespeare's Dark Consolations is a companion to those who need the consolation that King Lear can offer.

Contents:

Prologue: A Tale of Two Families

1. Vulnerable Reading

2. The Unravelling

3. The Refuge of Second Selves

4. The Lost, the Mad, and the Image of Horror

5. Reconciliations

6. Living with an Unpromised End

7. How King Lear Helps

8. Tragic Sharing

Coda: In Place of the Jig

Notes

Selected Additional Reading

Acknowledgements

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on July 01, 2022).

ISBN:

0-19-266211-2

0-19-266210-4

0-19-196457-3

OCLC:

1344112885