It's Monty Python meets
William Shakespeare in Fool, a novel by Christopher Moore (Harper
Collins 2009). Moore retells the story of Shakespeare's King Lear
from the perspective of Lear's court Fool, Pocket. In doing so, Moore
takes certain liberties with the plot, making the erstwhile insignificant Fool
into a scheming behind-the-scenes political conspiratorial starter of wars and
maker of kings.
The narrative style chosen by
the American-born Moore is filled with amusing pseudo-British slang and spoof in
addition to over-the-top lewdness bordering on outright pornography. Shakespeare
would have had a good laugh, though, I am sure--he was equally bawdy if much
more subtle and witty. Moore also mixes in some hilarious anachronisms
and parts of the plots of other Shakespeare plays.
If you chose to read Fool,
do not skip the informative Author's Note at the end entitled "You Cheeky
Git." There is some fascinating reading there about the history of
King "Leir" (as the name was historically spelled) and the
anachronisms to be found in the Shakespeare version of the story. The
Note also may make some readers feel better about the happy (well, happier)
ending of the Moore version, as apparently there are other extant versions of
the Lear/Leir story that share that particular plot point.
