King Lear

Arthur W. Frank received his doctorate in sociology from Yale in 1975 and spent his career teaching at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. After his retirement in 2013, he taught in Norway; throughout his career he has lectured internationally and held visiting professorships in Australia, England, and Japan. His work has focused on the experience of serious illness, beginning with his memoir, At the Will of the Body, and his most cited work, The Wounded Storyteller. His most recent book was Letting Stories Breathe (2010). He is an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Bioethics Society.

In the capable hands of Arthur Frank, to read Shakespeare's King Lear turns out to be a matter of care. This is careful reading at its best: attentive, patient and generous. No grand conclusions, but insights that touch the heart and mind. The Shakespearean consolation that the book brings, rings true: not the sugary com fort of false hope, but deep truths of what it means to be human.

• Prologue: A Tale of Two Families 1: Vulnerable Reading 2: The Unravelling 3: The Refuge of Second Selves 4: The Lost, the Mad, and the Image of Horror 5: Reconciliations 6: Living With an Unpromised End 7: How King Lear Helps 8: Tragic Sharing Coda: In Place of the Jig Notes Selected Additional Reading Acknowledgements Index