The History of Literature 755 The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear (with Nan Z. Da) | My Last Book with Iris Jamahl Dunkle
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Dec 4, 2025 Nan Z. Da, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear, explores the powerful connections between Shakespeare's King Lear and the tumultuous history of Maoist China. She discusses how Lear's themes of scripted speech and political dissent resonate deeply in both contexts. Additionally, she reflects on her upbringing, the flawed nature of meritocracy, and the tragic nuances of parental relationships. Literary biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle shares her pick for the last book she'd read, celebrating the lasting impact of Elizabeth Bishop's poetry.
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Personal Origins Shape Her Reading
- Nan Z. Da recounts emigrating from Hangzhou to the U.S. in 1992 at age six and retaining vivid early memories.
- Those memories shaped her sensitivity to scripted speech and performance in later analysis.
Lear's Opening Is A Loyalty Test
- Readers commonly misremember Lear as simply rewarding flattery instead of punishing refusal to perform a scripted loyalty test.
- Nan Z. Da argues this misremembrance obscures the play's deeper design to encourage and reveal cheating.
China As A Test Case For Lear
- Nan Z. Da uses 20th-century Chinese history as a real-world test of her literary claims about Lear's dynamics.
- She links scripted public performances and unmeritocratic demonstrations in China to patterns in the play.
