No other Middle Dutch text has meant so much to so many as Van den Vos Reynaerde (variously retold in English as Of Reynaert the Fox, Reynard the Fox and The History of Reynard the Fox, etc.), a dramatic literary cycle about the relationship between the individual and society, written by the otherwise unknown author Willem. Why has this story remained so popular for centuries? And how have so many textual researchers set about getting their teeth into the fox’s adventures? That is what medievalist Frits van Oostrom examines in his book De Reynaert. Leven met een meesterwerk (The Reynard. Living with a masterpiece), in which he also ties the animal epic to his own career in Middle Dutch literature. We present an excerpt adapted from De Reynaert. In it, Van Oostrom shows how it was that the world’s most famous fox became so embedded in Flanders’ collective memory. [Web sitee]

Language: English