The Fabled Life of Aesop

Title

en_US The Fabled Life of Aesop

Description

en_US First edition

Ian Lendler

Creator

en_US Lendler, Ian See all items with this value

Contributor

en_US Zagarenski, Pamela

Date

2022-10-13T19:19:20Z

2020-11

en_US 2020

Date Available

2022-10-13T19:19:20Z

Date Issued

en_US 2020

Abstract

en_US Every couple of years a new book of fables comes out and I find myself cheering and saying "Yes, that's the idea! Keep it fresh and engaging!" This new version does just that. It focuses early and late on Aesop's life and fits the fables into the framework created by that lens. A climactic fable is thus DW, through which Aesop clever asks for his freedom from his owner "Jadon." A number of features of this book echo the lovely approach to him, his life, and his stories. Thus the dust-jacket does not simply echo the cover. It pulls together key symbols in its own way. Clever decorations show up in unexpected places, as when the fox gets the grapes on the colophon page. The lion of other fables shows up with a blowing mane in SW and elsewhere, as does the same lovely Greek vase. The stories show the same freshness. Thus the wolf in BW eats the boy for dessert! The donkey trying to be a lapdog breaks dishes. TMCM gets a prize from me for both the creative hiding-place of the mice and then for the country mouse's good-bye wave. The climactic double-page spreads between 52 and 57 are veritable feasts of illustration and morals. Two questions arise for me from the book's interpretation. Should we understand that Aesop started his storytelling career as a boy? And was his story common knowledge at the time that his stories became widespread?

Identifier

en_US 12489 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/137787

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

en_US Boston, MA

Subject

en_US Ovr. PA3851.A2L46 2020 See all items with this value

Aesop See all items with this value