A Thousand Acres (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Jane Smiley
- First Published: 1991
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: 1979 and 1982
- Setting: Northwest Iowa
- Principal Characters: Virginia (Ginny) Cook Smith, Laurence (Larry) Cook, Jessie (Jess) Clark, Rose Cook Lewis, Caroline Cook Rasmussen, Harold Clark, Tyler (Ty) Smith, Pete Lewis, Loren Clark, Pammy
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: 1970’s, Family or family life, Parents and children, Suicide, Blindness or blind persons, Midwest, 1980’s, Child abuse, Incest, Cancer, Farms, farmers, or farming, Fathers, Adultery, Sisters, Accidents, Tragedy, Heroes or heroism, Environment or environmental health, Draft, military, Poisons or poisoning, Shakespeare, William, or Shakespearean plays
- Locales: Iowa
Form and Content
A Thousand Acres reconceives King Lear for an American landscape. Shakespeare’s tragedy of a sovereign who prematurely relinquishes power to his daughters becomes a story of the disintegration of a Midwest farming dynasty. Set in 1979, in Zebulon County of northwestern Iowa, the novel is narrated by Ginny, the eldest of Laurence Cook’s three rival daughters. She recounts the disastrous consequences of the patriarch’s decision to retire from the management of their vast, successful spread and to divide it among his grownup heirs: Ginny,...
[The entire page is 2562 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
