King Jerry

Jerremie Clyde is a reference librarian at the University of Alberta.

King Jerry is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Jerry
King, 50, has a small potbelly, tenure, a bird, and a dog named Rover.
He also has three daughters, all of whom he is convinced are most
ungrateful, an ex-wife who thinks he is lunatic, and a host of quirky
colleagues and students. Jerry is no epic hero. What he is, is average.

Jerry’s troubles are triggered by the arrival of one his daughter’s
friends, Debbie, whom he begins to fall in love with. Debbie is
desperate for a place to stay while she gets her life in order and Jerry
is unable to turn her away. Things start to spiral out of control for
Jerry when his ex-wife and daughters take his home and life by storm to
stage a Christmas reunion. Jerry’s inability to cope makes the
situation worse, depriving him of any control over his own fate. All of
Jerry’s troubles, when seen through his own wit and sarcasm, are
tragically funny.

David Arnason is the Head of the English Department at the University
of Manitoba, and the acting head of the University’s Icelandic studies
department. There is no denying that King Jerry is quirky, but anybody
who has spent any time in academia will find it touches close to home in
the strangest ways. Readers need not be familiar with either academia or
King Lear to enjoy the story, however.