The Annotated Shakespeare series allows readers to fully understand and enjoy the rich plays of the world's greatest dramatist

King Lear, one of Shakespeare's darkest and most savage plays, tells the story of the foolish and Job-like Lear, who divides his kingdom, as he does his affections, according to vanity and whim. Lear's failure as a father engulfs himself and his world in turmoil and tragedy.

This fully annotated version of King Lear makes the play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. It has been carefully assembled with students, teachers, and the general reader in mind. Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations.

Author: William Shakespeare
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 05/24/2007
Series: Annotated Shakespeare
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.45lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780300122008


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 07/01/2007 pg. 135

About the Author
Burton Raffel (1928-2015) was Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities emeritus and professor of English emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Among his many edited and translated publications are Poems and Prose from the Old English, Cligès, Lancelot, Perceval, Erec and Enide, and Yvain. Harold Bloom (1930-2019) was Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at New York University. His many books include The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, and Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds.