Beyond Pragmatism: Apocalypse, Adaptation and Historicity in King Lear and Some of its Czech Versions
2017
Abstract
The article regards adaptation as a form of the afterlife of a work of art foregrounding its historicity. As an apocalyptic play which does not bring any revelation, King Lear may be said to represent historicity in widest terms.
The first part of the article rectifies pragmatic aspects of recent approaches to the adaptations of Shakespeare's works. The second part discusses two exemplary Czech adaptations of King Lear: Josef Kajetán Tyl's failure (1834) to use the play in the context of Romantic nationalism, and Jan Nebeský's recent production (2011).