What do stories about animals have to tell us about human beings? This book analyses the shrewd perceptions about human life—and especially human language—that emerge from narratives in which the main figures are ‘talking animals’. Its guiding question is not ‘what’ but ‘how’ animals mean. Drawing a clear distinction between beast fable and beast epic, it examines the complex variations of these forms that are to be found in the literature of medieval Britain, in English, French, Latin, and Scots (modern English translations are provided for all quotations). The analytical method of the book combines theoretical and literary-critical discussion with a constant awareness of the historical development of the tradition. The works selected for study are the fables of Marie de France, the Speculum stultorum of Nigel of Longchamp, the Middle English poem The Owl and the Nightingale, Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls and the tales of the Squire, Manciple and Nun's Priest, the Reynardian tale of The Vox and the Wolf, and the Moral Fabillis of Robert Henryson. - [Publisher]

Language: English

ISBN: 978-0-19-921768-7; DOI: 10.1093/acprof=oso/9780199217687.001.0001