Au temps où les bêtes parlaient: de l'être et du savoir

Abstract

I was delighted to order this book when I learned that it was available. I love Jean Effel's works on fables. This book turns out to be a delightful book with several clear references to fables. The strongest is the frontispiece. Various animals are gathered under, around, and in a tree. Jean de La Fontaine, recognizable both by his face and long hair and also by his La Fontaine briefcase, walks into the scene. A crow cries out Attention… L'espion! Touché! Page 136, titled De l'Apologue, presents trees confronting a squirrel. Is one of the trees addressing the squirrel? What is said is Les fabulistes sont pour un botanisme (sic) à visage humain. Maybe the funniest single cartoon of the book, which presents one cartoon per page, comes on 164 under the caption D'Ici-bas. Two turkeys (or are they peacocks?) with open fan-tails look at a duster with a feather-pattern just like their own: Nous sommes poussière et nous retournerons en poussière…. Delightful!