King Lear

King Lear, William Shakespeare

HOW I GOT IT: This is how I never get to the stack, and why it has stood strong these eight months - and even grown, smiting me. It starts with my writing a novel. In his writing memoir (a wonderful past gift), Stephen King says a writer should read for pleasure. But with writing on my mind, it lends a sense of urgency to the selection and acquisition of such books I will read for pleasure. Browsing book shops and libraries, my eyes are piqued for writers and books I should read - and any welcome advise along the way.

At a book store at the mall, Jane Smiley's 13 Ways caught my eye, as did the blurb on the back that mentioned her Pulitzer Prize, for A Thousand Acres. I escaped the book store without sin, and headed for the library. (Though guess what I let get away: a supposedly seminal study, Bowling Alone, for $1.99. It was referenced the very next day on the McLaughlin Group by Pat freakin' Buchanan!)

So I spend a little more time with Smiley's novel study/testimonial - and it is extremely cautionary, which is exactly what an optimistic zygote of a not-yet-novelist needs. I have to read her opus, see her "in action." Just this one, and then I'll get through the rest of Trollope, and onto Pynchon.

But I can't even touch A Thousand Acres yet, because I discover that it is in part derived from King Lear. Having missed the Oxford education this time around, I moped over to the British Drama section and picked up this Learean paperback, beaten down and creased by all those before me, five acts to the wiser.

HOW IT WAS: So what can I say about Shakespeare? I found the language to be much more intuitive than what Signet concluded. Often, I got the gist of a phrase and, yet, interrupted the flow to trace a footnote for fear of missing something. I stopped doing this about halfway through, and would recommend looking The Bard squarely in the face with as little mediation as possible. You can always backtrack later.

There is no way for me to begin to articulate an insight into this work. And it's not the freshest, since I finished reading it two weeks ago. I also don't look at Shakespeare's plays (or sonnets) as something to be done with, once read. I'll be coming back to this baby time and time again. Plus, I must continue reading.