I picked up this edition of "King Lear" with accompanying modern-English translation as a reminder of the original plot of the play while I read Christopher Moore's newest book Fool. [Moore himself says, in his author's note in Fool, that it isn't necessary and may not be helpful to try comparing his spinoff to the original play, but I found it entertaining.]

This edition presents Shakespeare's text of the play on the left-hand pages, and a modern-English paraphrased translation on the right-hand pages. For the most part, this seemed to be a pretty effective way of aiding in understanding some of Shakespeare's more convoluted and/or colloquial phrasing, but I also found that some of the translations were not only a bit off in tone but occasionally downright incorrect, so be warned. But, allowing for that, the book's format might make it easier for someone who isn't comfortable with Shakespeare's English to understand the storyline of the play, and that would be a good thing. [I'd have preferred an annotated version, I think; something with an explanation of the more obscure terms and phrasings, so that I could then mentally translate the passage myself instead of relying on whoever did the paraphrasing here. But this version is more readable.]

As for the play itself - well, Shakespeare's tragedies tend to be very tragic indeed, and this one compares with "Hamlet" in overall body count and downer of an ending. [I think "Lear" wins on points due to gratuitous blinding, but some may disagree {wry grin}.] When I first read the play back in my school days I found it unbelievably dark, and didn't sympathize with any of the characters much. Now, I can see a little more deeply into some of the motivations, but I have to say I still don't find many of the characters sympathetic, and even those seem to be a bit foolish under the circumstances. But since wildly dysfunctional families have become the daily fodder of TV shows and popular press, the utter viciousness between family members in this play no longer seems as outrageous as it once did. In fact, it's all too easy to imagine a "Lear and his daughters" episode of "Jerry Springer"!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the play that's very entertaining.]

I left this book inside the Hippo free-newspaper box in front of the iconic Red Arrow Diner at around 3:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it! (And try the sausage and gravy at Red Arrow {grin}.)

*** Released as part of the Head Shoulders Knees Toes challenge, for the embedded "ear" in the title. ***

*** Released as part of the 2014 Movie release challenge. ***