Fables

Abstract

This is a book of 123 pages featuring sixteen fables, all new creations. Bodemann claims that it also has a dialogue, but I cannot find it. The first fable is true enough: our advice, however well intentioned, fails. So it happened with a willful young woman. Once her mother caused her to see her behavior in a mirror, she got an idea of how she was coming across. Fables hold up to us that mirror, and we can see ourselves as we would not see ourselves in the advice of friends and acquaintances. The fables here generally begin with a short sermon, which is followed by an obvious tale. The poet's project is stated near the bottom of 7: hinting to the human-kind,/what few deny but fewer mind…. The manner seems to me roughly that of Gay: ideas and advice swirl about, and the stories used as fables seem obvious and thus even labored. There is one strong full-page illustration for each fable. Notice the archaic writing form of s within a word. The covers of the book have separated.