König Lear / King Lear

Shakespeare’s tragedy about the ageing King Lear is based on the figure of the legendary British King Leir from pre-Roman times. The story of the king, who hands over his kingdom to two of his daughters and is rejected by them, is multi-layered: a drama that is not only about the loss of power, but also about generational conflicts and changing social norms. Accordingly, the long history of performances shows new interpretations time and again.

This bilingual edition of the drama within the series English-German Study Edition of Shakespeare’s dramas presents the newly edited original English text together with a line-by-line German prose translation. In addition, a comprehensive introduction and a rich scene commentary offer a broad readership from academia, schools and the theatre, in the translation field and all Shakespeare enthusiasts a sound basis for in-depth study of the work.

A particular focus is on analysing the performances on English and German-speaking stages. Historical aspects such as poverty and migration, astrology and scepticism, censorship and the sensitivities of King James I are also considered. For the first time, it is shown that the word Turlygod means something like ‘twirler’, and so Edgar (Mad Tom) is an existential tumbler. The drama shocks its audience with the loss of balance in the family and community as well as trust in meaningful conventions and supposedly unalterable certainties such as the ‘natural’ love of children for their parents, and vice versa.

A table of contents can be found here.

About the cover: Hans Jürg Kupper (Basel), using Rembrandt’s etching Beggar Sitting on a Mound, 1630 (plate not preserved).

About the editor: Before his retirement (2013), Werner Brönnimann taught English and American cultural and literary studies both at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and at the English Department of the University of Basel. In 1986, his volume Troilus and Cressida was published in the English-German Studies Edition series.