The Lion's Share in Art and Legend

Title

en_US The Lion's Share in Art and Legend

Description

en_US This is a hardbound book (hard cover)

en_US This book has a dust jacket (book cover)

en_US First edition

en_US Vivian B. Kline

Creator

en_US Kline, Vivian B.

Date

2016-01-25T19:50:47Z

en_US 2007-03

en_US 1973

Date Available

2016-01-25T19:50:47Z

Date Issued

en_US 1973

Abstract

en_US Here is a 155-page book meant for the curious general reader. The author found herself asking why lions are represented so often and why they represent so many different things. She found, among other things, that the phrase describing the lion as 'King of Beasts' is so old that we do not know who first used it (viii). Copious photographs of art objects punctuate the presentation of lion as enemy, leader, guard, celestial body, and emblem. A chapter is given to fable, but the first fable is mentioned before then: the fable of the lion and the rooster (47-48). The lion who has allowed the cock to frighten him consoles himself when he learns that the elephant is tormented by a mosquito. The chapter itself, The Lion in Fable (50-58), takes note of the origin of this book's title in the fable of the lion who claims all four parts for himself (50). Kline quotes at length a strong passage from Sir Thomas Elyot in 1531 recommending fables (in Greek!) as important in grammar school. Erasmus is also cited, as is William Ellery Leonard (1912): Mankind will still remember Aesop/Though mountains melt and oceans freeze up. After 53, the chapter turns rather to ancient lion lore. Here Kline quotes--often at some length--Aristotle, Pliny, The Physiologus, and Leonardo. Fables return in The Lion As Good Guy (82-87). This chapter mentions LM, AL, St. Jerome and the Lion, and an Indian fable that sounds very much like a Jataka tale. In this tale, a lion has agreed to watch the monkey's two little ones. When the lion falls asleep, a vulture seizes the two young monkeys. After various negotiations fail, the lion tears out a piece of its own flesh to offer it to the vultures as ransom for the monkeys. Becoming a Lion includes mention of DLS (90).

Identifier

en_US 9780533008162

en_US 6146 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/81552

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Vantage Press

en_US New York

Subject

en_US N7745.L5 K55 1973

en_US Tangential

en_US Title Page Scanned

Type

en_US Book, Whole