Appropriations of Shakespeare's King Lear in Three Modern North American Novels Lindhé, Anna 2013 Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Lindhé, A. (2013). Appropriations of Shakespeare's King Lear in Three Modern North American Novels. (Lund Studies in English; Vol. 115). Lund University. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Download date: 03. Oct. 2021 Anna Lindhé Appropriations of Shakespeare’s King Lear in three modern north american novels ‘I am a man More sinn’d against than sinning’ For centuries, readers and spectators have felt invited to sympathize with the father in one of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies, King Lear. Towards the end of the 20th century, however, these sympathies shifted towards Lear’s daughters in both the critical and the creative afterlife of the play. This book examines the ways in which three modern appropriations of King Lear – A Thousand Acres (1991) by Jane Smiley, Ladder of Years (1995) by Anne Tyler, and Cat’s Eye (1988) by Margaret Atwood – suspend the reader’s inclination to assign blame to Goneril and Regan, transferring a measure of responsibility back on to the father. It demonstrates that literary appropriation is able to alter the reader’s understanding of a major work of literature and even engender ethical effects in its readers. Cover image: Detail from Henry Fuseli, Lear Banishing Cordelia c. 1784–1790, © 2013 AGO LUND STUDIES IN ENGLISH Centre for Languages and Literature ISBN 978-91-976935-2-3 ISSN 0076-1451 APPROPRIATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR IN THREE MODERN NORTH AMERICAN NOVELS LUND STUDIES IN ENGLISH 115 Editors Carita Paradis and Marianne Thormählen LUND STUDIES IN ENGLISH was founded by Eilert Ekwall in 1933. Published by the Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University, the series consists of books on the English language and on literature in English. Appropriations of Shakespeare’s King Lear in Three Modern North American Novels Anna Lindhé LUND STUDIES IN ENGLISH APPROPRIATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR IN THREE MODERN NORTH AMERICAN NOVELS Anna Lindhé LUND STUDIES IN ENGLISH 115 ISBN 978-91-976935-2-3 ISSN 0076-1451 Publisher: Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University English Studies P.O. Box 201 SE-221 00 LUND Sweden Cover design: Johan Laserna Cover picture: Detail from Lear Banishing Cordelia (c. 1784-1790) by Henri Fuseli. © 2013 Art Gallery of Ontario. Anna Lindhé 2012 © Typesetting Ilgot Liljedahl Printed by Media-Tryck Lund University, Sweden 2012 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations and Editions 9 Introduction 10 Summary of Research 11 Selection of Texts 13 Appropriation in Theory – An Ethical Perspective 14 Appropriation in Practice 15 From Play to Novel and Back 17 chapter one Shakespeare Carried Forward: Towards a New Ethics of Literary Appropriation 20 Introductory Remarks 20 Metaphors of Conflict – Submission or Transgression? 24 Harold Bloom and the Metaphor of Debt 28 Appropriation and Afterlife 32 The Responsibility of the Reader 38 Three Literary Classics and Vulnerable Reader Categories 41 chapter two Redistributing Guilt and Responsibilities in A Thousand Acres and King Lear 47 Introductory Remarks 48 Previous Research 49 Goneril and Regan in the Creative and Critical Afterlife 51 Intergenerational Debts, Guilt, and Shame in King Lear 56 King Lear in America 62 5 chapter three Marriage, Love, and Sacrifice in Ladder of Years and King Lear 77 Introductory Remarks 77 Points of Departure in Anne Tyler’s Fiction 78 Cordelia in the Critical and Literary Afterlife 83 The Shakespearean Pattern in Ladder of Years 89 Delia, Lear, and a New Domesticity 100 chapter four Sisterhood, Shame, and Redemption in Cat’s Eye and King Lear 104 Introductory Remarks 104 Margaret Atwood: Canadian Woman Writer 108 Previous Research 112 The Shakespearean Family Pattern in Toronto 115 Before, During, and After Elaine’s Fall 119 Unburdened Daughters: Redemption and Forgiveness 128 chapter five Something Will Come of Nothing in A Thousand Acres, Ladder of Years, and Cat’s Eye 133 Descent 133 Wives and Daughters 144 Emptiness 148 Conclusion 154 Bibliography 159 Index 176 6 Acknowledgements I want to express my deepest gratitude to my main supervisor, Professor Marianne Thormählen, who has thoughtfully guided me through all the stages of writing with invaluable insights, perceptive criticism, and unfail- ing support and encouragement. Her generosity, intellectual as well as per- sonal, her integrity and her dedication have inspired me beyond words. I am also greatly indebted to my co-supervisor, Dr Birgitta Berglund, for her helpful advice and valuable comments, her sensible perspectives, and her personal as well as professional support. I consider myself very fortunate to have been under the careful guidance of two remarkable women who com- plemented each other in ways which benefited this study tremendously. I thank them both for the trust that they have placed in me and my work. I am also grateful to the members of the Higher Literary Seminar in the English Studies section at the Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, for their astute observations, critical engagement, and careful readings of numerous instalments. Many a pleasant post-seminar was spent along the way. Special thanks are due to Dr Sara Håkansson, Dr Claes Lindskog, Dr Stefan Ekman, Dr Kiki Lindell, Annika Lindskog, Dr Marie Wallin, Staffan Johansson, Cecilia Kraitiss, Dr Anna Hellén, Associate Professor Jane Mattisson Ekstam, and Gabriella Walfridsson. A particular thank-you goes to Dr Sara Håkansson for many friendly words of encouragement over the years. Acknowledgement is also due to Professor Michael Dobson, whose seminars on Shakespeare deepened my understanding of the English Renaissance at a crucial stage. In addition, I wish to thank STINT (Stiftelsen för internationalisering av högre utbildning och forskning) for a generous grant which enabled me to spend a full year of research at the University of Oxford. Thanks to liberal grants from Hjalmar Gullberg och Greta Thotts stipendiefond and Stiftelsen Fil dr Uno Otterstedts fond för främjande av vetenskaplig forskning och undervisning, I was also able to spend six months at Duke University. I am grateful to Professor Cathy N. Davidson for inviting me 7 to use the facilities of the Department of English. Throughout my years as a doctoral student, I have been the grateful recipient of munificent grants from Crafoordska Stiftelsen, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, and Stiftelsen Syskonen Anna Cecilia och Otto Sigfrid Granmarks stipendie- fond for (conference) travels and material. My thanks also extend to friends in Sweden and the U.S. who have contributed to the completion of this project in various ways. A special thank-you to Anna Kristell for ensuring that I did not lose contact with the ‘outside world’ during the last phase of writing. Thank you, too, to Ebba Berglund, who contributed to this project by providing an extra lov- ing pair of arms for my son Adrian. I also wish to thank my colleagues at North Carolina Central University, where I had the opportunity to teach in the Department of English and Mass Communications. That experi- ence led this book in a new direction. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my parents, Britt-Marie and Anders Lindhé, for providing me with the strongest possible foundation of love and support and for helping me in every way to achieve my goal, as well as to my beloved sister, Dr Cecilia Lindhé, who has always been there for me, picking me up in times of distress and offering both personal and academic guidance. This book benefited from her professional assistance during the final stage. The last year of writing was facilitated by the tolerance, love, and help received from my parents-in-law, Britta and Leif Lindahl. Finally, my greatest debt is to my husband, Martin Lindahl, for his pa- tience, unconditional love, and unswerving support every step of the way. I thank him for giving me the strength and confidence to carry on. I also owe thanks to our son, Adrian, who has patiently waited for his ‘mamma’ to finish her book. This book is dedicated to the two of them. 8 Abbreviations and Editions The following editions were used for this study: William Shakespeare,King Lear, ed. by R.A. Foakes (Surrey: Nelson and Sons, 1997); Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres (New York: Ballantine, 1991); Anne Tyler, Ladder of Years (London: Vintage, 1995); Margaret Atwood (London: Virago, 2002; orig. published in 1988). Page and chapter references to the books are given in parentheses throughout. The following abbreviations were used in chapter five:TA (A Thousand Acres); LY (Ladder of Years); CE (Cat’s Eye). Parenthetic references to King Lear appear throughout. Upper-case Roman numerals refer to acts, Arabic ones to scenes and lines.