Das heiligste Tier: Ein elysisches Fabelbuch
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Authors
Gjellerup, Karl
Issue Date
1919
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Book, Whole
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Abstract
My impression is that this is not a fable book as I have known fable books. It reads more like an extended fantasy, perhaps on the order of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis. One story here leads into another as animals meet with one another and relate their experiences. Gjellerup was born in Denmark in 1857, son of a Lutheran pastor. He was heavily attracted to Darwinism and then to Buddhism. He settled in Dresden and wrote in German. In 1917 he won the Nobel prize for literature. Wikipedia summarizes the present work this way: 'Das heiligste Tier' (1919, i.e. The holiest animal) was Gjellerup's last work. Having elements of self-parody, it is regarded his only attempt of humour. It is a peculiar mythological satire in which animals arrive at their own Elysium after death. These include the snake that killed Cleopatra, Odysseus' dog Argos, Wisvamitra (the holy cow of India), the donkey of Jesus and the horses of various historical commanders in field. The assembly select, after discussion, Buddha's horse Kantaka as the holiest of animals, but it has left without a trace to follow its master to nirvana. The work is divided into five books, and there are six black-and-white illustrations by Paul Hartmann. Ex libris Werner Kulz.
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Verlag Quelle & Meyer
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Identifier
7339 (Access ID)