Tierisch Heiter, Tierisch Ernst
Loading...
Authors
No Author
Issue Date
1981
Volume
Issue
Type
Book, Whole
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Like its partner from 1980, Poetisches Tierleben, this little book, about 3 x 4, gives good testimony to fable's place in the literature of animals, humorous and serious. It is one of those little books that appear on counters of bookstores and used book shops. And so it appeared at Quadrat on my first afternoon in Mannheim on this trip. The cover illustration of two animals with several in the background is Grandville's work. The dozen or so illustrations are from Grandville, as is acknowledged early in the book. There are also several advertisements for Bisolvomycin (e.g., 56), which claims to help people's breathing. As the T of C on 110-12 shows, there is a lovely mixture here of texts. The first poem is from Goethe. Silenced and imprisoned under ice, the little frogs promised that if they ever got free they would sing like nightingales. The ice thawed, the frogs crept back onto land, and croaked as they have always done. Nice touch! Claudius has a nice little fable (61) about the fox, with a rooster in his mouth, meeting a bear early one morning and greeting him Gnäd'ger Herr, saying he has brought him the rooster. Who says I am gnädig? I saw your tooth, and it is long and sharp. In this little volume, Gellert rather than Lessing is called on for his similar Der Tanzbär (57-58) an example of a strong traditional fable. One Euro can still buy something worthwhile!
Description
Citation
Publisher
Dr. Karl Thomae
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
Identifier
10210 (Access ID)