Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Reineke Fuchs in zwölf Gesängen
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Authors
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Prechtl, Michael Mathias
Issue Date
1999
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
This book is a treasure! It starts with one line, Pfingsten, das liebliche Fest, war gekommen and a portrait of animals in a circle under and around a dove. The principal animal missing is a fox. When one turns the page, one reads Im Anfang war Aesop with a text on the image of Aesop on a Vatican cup juxtaposed with Reinekes antiker Vorahn, a fox. The full-page colored illustrations here are wonderful; a citation on the back of each only sharpens their engagement. We see a cat, a dog, and a paw holding a sausage: Wo zwei sich streiten, freut sich der dritte (13-14). We see a fox and a baked chicken and we read Gestern froh im Wiener Wald, heute ist das Hähnchen kalt (23-24). The most provocative of the provocative pictures may be that of Renard with a naked human body but a fox's head and tail (73). Is there something bisexual about the picture? Are there hints of shyness and seduction? Do not trust this animal! Der Zankapfel is similar (163-64). Also explicit is Pas de deux (173-74): Renard has sex with Frau Wolf. FK gets a great illustration on 83 with the comment on 84: Ein Laich, ein Teich, ein Führer. Weird may be the word for the image of a wolf who has just received a horse's hoof full in his face (133). I can remember Kenneth Varty giving a talk at a fable conference on a recent provocatively illustrated Renard edition; I think now that this must have been that book. The dust-jacket shows Renard draped around the neck of Goethe, and the front red cloth cover itself has delicate pawprints of a fox down its left edge. What an engaging book!
Description
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Publisher
Büchergilde Gutenberg
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DOI
Identifier
10178 (Access ID)