Smiley’s «A thousand acres»: American adaptation of W. Shakespeare’s «The tragedy of King Lear»

  • Yanina A. Aliakseyenka Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnacsi Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Abstract

The article deals with the specifics of the reception of W. Shakespeare’s «The tragedy of King Lear» in J. Smiley’s «A thousand acres». The current importance and theoretical significance of the research is explained by the need to systematise the achievements of the literary process at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, to identify modern trends in the revision of the playwright’s legacy in the USA. The writer adapts the pretext to American reality, keeping the plot and the main characters of the play recognisable. The centre of the narrative shifts, allowing to hear the female version of events. In accordance with the main problem-thematic aspects of the novel, elements of feminist and ecological (united by the ideas of ecofeminism), socio-critical, psychological and philosophical prose are distinguished. The foreign author’s literary works become a part of the national culture of the USA and one of the factors which affect the process of nationogenesis.

Author Biography

Yanina A. Aliakseyenka, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnacsi Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

trainee lecturer at the department of foreign literature, faculty of philology

References

  1. Sturgess KC. Shakespeare and the American nation. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2004. 234 p.
  2. Shapiro J. Shakespeare in a divided America: what his plays tell us about our past and future. New York: Penguin Press; 2020. 320 p.
  3. Komarovskaya TE. [«The tragedy of King Lear» in the modern USA literature: J. Smiley’s «A thousand acres»]. In: Mikhailova LG, editor. Kul’tura i literatura SShA: problemy poetiki i estetiki. Materialy mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii; 1–7 dekabrya 1997 g.; Moskva, Rossiya [Culture and literature of the USA: problems of poetics and aesthetics. Proceedings of the international conference; 1997 December 1–7; Moscow, Russia]. Moscow: [s. n.]; 1997. p. 61–64. Russian.
  4. Komarovskaya TE. [Realistic deconstruction of Shakespeare in the novel by J. Smiley’s «A thousand acres»]. In: Samusenko VI, editor. Metodologiya izucheniya literatury i osnovy analiza khudozhestvennogo teksta [Methodology of literature study and fundamentals of literary text analysis]. Minsk: Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank; 1998. p. 93–96. Russian.
  5. Butyrchik АМ. [Shakespeare reminiscences in J. Smiley’s «A thousand acres»]. In: Stulov YuV, editor. Amerikanskie issledovaniya. 2004–2005: Evropa i Soedinennye Shtaty Ameriki: vzglyad izvne [American studies. 2004–2005: Europe and the United States of America: an outside perspective]. Minsk: Propilei; 2006. p. 62–69. Russian.
  6. Farris SR. American pastoral in the twentieth-century «O pioneers!», «A thousand acres», and «Merry men». Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. 1998;5(1):27–48.
  7. Schiff JA. Contemporary retellings: «A thousand acres» as the latest «Lear». Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 1998;39(4):367–381. DOI: 10.1080/00111619809599542.
  8. Brauner D. «Speak again»: the politics of rewriting in «A thousand acres». The Modern Language Review. 2001;96(3):654–666. DOI: 10.2307/3736736.
  9. Bochegova NN, Portnyagin DV. The chronotope of farm in «A thousand acres» by Jane Smiley. Vestnik Kurganskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye nauki. 2012;4:38–40. Russian.
  10. Leslie M. Incest, incorporation, and «King Lear» in Jane Smiley’s «A thousand acres». College English. 1998;60(1):31–50. DOI: 10.2307/378472.
  11. Bender J. What is so disturbing about Jane Smiley’s «A thousand acres»? Agriculture and Human Values. 1998;15:153–160.
  12. Strehle S. The daughter’s subversion in Jane Smiley’s «A thousand acres». Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 2000;41(3):211–226. DOI: 10.1080/00111610009601587.
  13. McDermott S. Memory, nostalgia, and gender in «A thousand acres». Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 2002;28(1):389–407. DOI: 10.1086/340916.
  14. Hicks S. Jane Smiley’s «A thousand acres» (1991) and archival reimaginations of eco-cosmopolitanism. Environmental Humanities. 2013;2(1):1–20. DOI: 10.1215/22011919-3610324.
  15. Smiley J. A thousand acres. New York: Ballantine Books; 1992. 371 p.
  16. Smiley J. Tysyacha akrov [A thousand acres]. Karpova KK, translator. Moscow: AST; 2021. 416 p. Russian.
Published
2023-10-31
Keywords: national identity, national character, pastoral myth, reception, modern adaptation, Shakespeare’s plot, ecofeminism
How to Cite
Aliakseyenka Y. A. Smiley’s «A thousand acres»: American adaptation of W. Shakespeare’s «The tragedy of King Lear» // Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology. 2023. 3. PP. 13-20.