Country's literary king's one up (6)

I believe the answer is:

israel

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'country's' is the definition.
(Israel is an example)

'literary king's one up' is the wordplay.
'literary king's' becomes 'lears' (King Lear. I am not sure about the 'literary' bit.).
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'lears'+'i'='learsi'
'learsi' reversed gives 'ISRAEL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for israel that I've seen before include "Serial set in Middle East state" , "Jaffa's country" , "Serial (anag)" , "Hands perhaps" , "Country of E. Med" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.