Dunbar

Dunbar

Dunbar – Edward St Aubyn

The Tragedy of King Lear — ain’t my first rodeo, neither.

“In any case, once you set sail in a ship of fools, there’s never any shortage of passengers!” Page 38.

The premise for the Hogarth Series is a modern novelist’s version, or story, based upon a Shakespeare play. Dunbar is based, like, a modern variant of Shakespeare’s King Lear, between that and whatever the online reviews — Amazon, etc. — say? That’s enough background.

Having seen the play itself in recent memory, that helps.

The guy who played Lear for that 2017 season? That kid was great. Actor, whatever.

The book uses a corporate media mogul empire as a frame for the tale, but there’s enough theatrical imagery to remind us that it is a play. The wars waged and concerns are fights against a backdrop of insider trading and the looming threat of boardroom battles.

In a curious note, and properly reflective, as well as used in context, there was passing quote from Shakespeare’s Richard II. Ironic chuckle.

In part, and then, in whole, it is a rather successful re-imagining of Lear, equally sad and enthralling, teasing out similar imagery, lovingly crafted in a way to make the source stronger in its original form.

An homage? Literally a literary appreciation.

The thing about King Lear, and by extension, the novel Dunbar, I know how it ends, and yet, I get surprised by the ending. That’s happened twice this year. Gripping tale, means good book.

Read it in airports and on airplanes.


Dunbar

Dunbar – Edward St Aubyn

Dunbar (Hogarth Shakespeare)

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