A Thousand Acres
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| A Thousand Acres | |
 Cover of the hardcover first edition |
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| Author | Jane Smiley |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | October 23, 1991 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 367 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-394-57773-6 |
A Thousand Acres is a 1991 award winning novel by American author Jane Smiley. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted to a 1997 film of the same name.
The novel is a contemporary deconstruction of Shakespeare's King Lear and is set on a thousand acre (4 km²) farm in Iowa that is owned by a family of a father and his three daughters. It is told through the point of view of the oldest daughter, Ginny.
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[edit] Plot summary
Larry Cook is an aging farmer who decides to incorporate his farm, handing complete and joint ownership to his three daughters, Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. When the youngest daughter objects, she is removed from the agreement. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions, as the story eventually reveals the long-term sexual abuse of the two oldest daughters that was committed by their father.
The plot also focuses on Ginny's troubled marriage and her difficulties in bearing a child and her relationship with her family.
[edit] Similarity to King Lear
There are many similarities between King Lear and A Thousand Acres, including both plot details and character development. For example, the names of the main characters in the novel are reminiscent of their Shakespearean counterpoints. Larry is Lear, Ginny is Goneril, Rose is Regan, and Caroline is Cordelia. The role the Cook's neighbors, Harold Clark and his sons Loren and Jess, also rework the importance of Gloucester, Edgar and Edmund in Lear.
The novel maintains major themes present in Lear, namely: gender roles, appearances vs. reality, generational conflict, hierarchical structures (the Great chain of being), madness, and the powerful force of nature. Larry Cook, however, is an incest rapist. Lears' malicious daughters are portrayed as hapless victims of his perverted lust.
[edit] Characters
- Larry Cook (King Lear)
- Ginny Cook Smith (Goneril)
- Rose Cook Lewis (Regan)
- Caroline Cook Rasmussen (Cordelia)
- Ty Smith (Duke of Albany)
- Pete Lewis (Duke of Cornwall)
- Pammy and Linda Lewis
- Jess Clark (Edmund)
- Harold Clark (Earl of Gloucester)
- Loren Clark (Edgar)
- Marv Carson
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Rabbit At Rest by John Updike |
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1992 |
Succeeded by A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler |
