UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles the Fabulist in the Fable

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles the Fabulist in the Fable UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Fabulist in the Fable Book A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Classics by Kristin Leilani Mann 2015 © Copyright by Kristin Leilani Mann 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERETATION The Fabulist in the Fable Book by Kristin Leilani Mann Doctor of Philosophy in Classics University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Kathryn Anne Morgan, Co-Chair Professor Amy Ellen Richlin, Co-Chair Four fable books survive from Greco-Roman antiquity: (1) the Life and Fables of Aesop (1st-2nd century CE), a collection of Greek prose fables; (2) Phaedrus’s Fabulae Aesopiae (1st century CE), a collection of Latin verse fables; (3) Babrius’s Μυθίαμβοι Αἰσώπειοι (1st century CE), a collection of Greek verse fables; and (4) Avianus’s Fabulae (4th-5th century CE), a collection of Latin verse fables. The thesis of this dissertation is that in each of these fable collections, the fabulist’s presence in the fable book – his biography, his self-characterizations, and his statements of purpose – combine to form a hermeneutic frame through which the fables may be interpreted. Such a frame is necessary because the fable genre is by nature multivalent: fables may be interpreted in many different ways, depending on their context. For embedded fables (that is, fables embedded in a larger narrative or speech), the fable’s immediate context influences the fable’s interpretation. In the fable books, however, there is no literary context; the ii fables stand as isolated narratives. The fabulist himself, I argue, takes the place of this missing context, and thus provides the reader with an interpretive framework. Such a framework does not outright control the interpretation of the fables (the fables remain multivalent), but it does provide a field of plausible interpretations. Furthermore, because each fable book has a different hermeneutic frame, each text is unique, despite using much of the same material. Thus, in the Life and Fables of Aesop, the Life serves as a guide for how to use the Fables that follow, a guide that is aimed at low or powerless individuals. Phaedrus’s collection demonstrates the usefulness of fables as a form of coded speech, for slaves and for other disempowered individuals. Babrius’s collection explores the usefulness of fables in education, and teaches the readers how to think about and apply fable wisdom correctly. Finally, Avianus’s fable collection is concerned not only with the boundaries of genre – with what is and is not appropriate for the fable genre – but also with the nature of display and ornamentation itself, an important issue in late antique culture. These four fable books have not, on the whole, received much scholarly attention, and there has been little attempt to read them as coherent works of literature in their own right. By considering the overall purpose and hermeneutic frames of each of these collections, this dissertation fills an important gap in scholarship. iii The dissertation of Kristin Leilani Mann is approved. Alex C. Purves Joseph F. Nagy Kathryn Anne Morgan, Committee Co-Chair Amy Ellen Richlin, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2015 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments …………………………………………………………………………….... vi Vita …………………………………………………………………………………………… viii Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………..……… 1 Chapter 1 The Life and Fables of Aesop: An Instruction Manual for the Low ………………….. 36 Chapter 2 Phaedrus: Fables as Covert Speech ………………………………………...………... 100 Chapter 3 Babrius: Fables as Education ……………………………………………….……...…179 Chapter 4 Avianus: Dressing up the Fable Genre …………………………………...………..…247 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………..………..318 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………..…...……322 v Acknowledgments I am deeply indebted to my professors at UCLA for helping me bring this project to fruition. In particular, I would like to thank the co-chairs of my dissertation committee, Kathryn Morgan and Amy Richlin, for all of their help, support, and advice during this process. They both agreed to be my co-chairs, even though this wide-ranging project on the fable collections did not fall neatly into their areas of specialization, and I am grateful for their invaluable comments and advice, the bibliography they introduced me to, and for their reading and rereading of my drafts. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee – Alex Purves and Józsi Nagy – for their feedback and for the many insightful conversations about fables that I had with them. I have also had the good fortune to receive help from non-committee members, in particular Mario Telò, who talked with me about fable bibliography and approaches, and Francesca Martelli, who introduced me to paratext theory and gave vital feedback on my introduction. I am also very grateful for the help I received from scholars outside of UCLA who offered new perspectives and insights. Ellen Finkelpearl not only talked with me about my project and about the wider world of animal studies, but also invited me a dinner with her and Claire Nettleton to talk about our work on animals. Dana Fields allowed me to read her not yet published work on the fable collections. James Uden listened to my talk in Boston, gave me helpful notes, and mailed me his article on Avianus, an article which proved crucial to my chapter. I am grateful to them all. I would also like to thank the Classics Department at the University of Southern California for inviting me to participate in their seminar on Leslie Kurke’s Aesopic Conversations, and to Leslie Kurke for coming and talking about her book. vi In seminars and conferences over the years, I have had the opportunity to presents parts of my dissertation as talks. As such, I would like extend my thanks to David Blank, in whose seminar I gave a talk about Babrius and Plutarch; to Boston University, whose graduate students hosted a conference at which I spoke about Aesop and Babrius, and the Society for Classical Studies, at whose conference I spoke about Phaedrus. Thanks to these opportunities, I not only clarified my arguments, but also received feedback from numerous scholars. I am grateful to the organizations who helped fund my dissertation work: UCLA graduate division, for offering me College of Letters and Science Fellowships in 2008-2009 and 2011- 2012, a Graduate Research Mentorship in 2010-2011, and a Dissertation Year Fellowship in 2014-2015. I would also like to thank the Mellon Foundation, for offering me a Mellon Fellowship in 2012. The Dissertation Year Fellowship came about as a result of my winning the Distinguished Teaching Award, which would not have been possible without Bob Gurval and Sarah Morris, who nominated me and then assembled my portfolio, nor without Kathryn Morgan, Mario Telò, and many of my past students, who wrote letters of support. I also extend warm thanks to my family and friends – to Grace Gillies, for letting me talk through my chapters on multiple occasions and for always offering her support and advice; to Alex Lessie, for insightful conversations about our projects; to Paul Waite, for making sure that I kept a sense of humor through it all; and to Mik Larsen, for his feedback on my writing sample, for long conversations about fables, and for the healthy competition that allowed my work to stay on track. Finally, I would like to thank my family, for their love and encouragement during my graduate school career, and especially my partner, Mandy, for all of her support and love. vii VITA 2008 B.A. (summa cum laude), Classics and English Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 2008-2009 College of Letters and Science Fellowship University of California, Los Angeles 2009-2010 Teaching Assistant Department of Classics University of California, Los Angeles 2010 M.A., Classics University of California, Los Angeles 2010-2011 Graduate Research Mentorship University of California, Los Angeles 2011-2012 College of Letters and Science Fellowship University of California, Los Angeles 2012 Mellon Fellowship University of California, Los Angeles 2013-2014 Teaching Assistant Department of Classics University of California, Los Angeles 2014 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award for Teaching Assistants UCLA Classics Department Distinguished Teaching Award 2014-2015 Dissertation Year Fellowship University of California, Los Angeles PRESENTATIONS Mann, Kristin (March, 2010) View and Display in Herodotus. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest / Classical Association of the Canadian West. viii ——— (March, 2012) How Could It Be Pure? Bird Violence in Aeschylus’ Suppliants. Paper presented at the annual meeting of Classical Association of the Middle West and South. ——— (March, 2013) The Separation of Human and Animal in Aesop and Babrius. Paper presented at Homo Animalis: Man and Animal in the Ancient World, Boston University. ——— (January, 2015). Dual Audience in Phaedrus. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies. ix Introduction This dissertation, The Fabulist in the Fable Book, focuses on the four fable collections that have survived from Greco-Roman antiquity: (1) the Life and Fables of Aesop (1st-2nd century CE), a collection of Greek prose fables; (2) Phaedrus’s Fabulae Aesopiae (1st century CE), a collection of Latin verse fables; (3) Babrius’s Μυθίαμβοι Αἰσώπειοι (1st century CE), a collection of Greek verse fables; and (4) Avianus’s Fabulae (4th-5th century CE), a collection of Latin verse fables. I argue that in each collection, the author’s biography serves as a framing narrative that guides the interpretation of the fables. Essentially, each fabulist emphasizes the part of his identity that explains for what purpose he is writing fables, and this gives the reader a hermeneutic frame through which to interpret the text. My aim is to demonstrate that each of these four fable collections can be considered a work of literature in its own right, not a collection of unrelated and randomly chosen stories.
Recommended publications
  • The Ontology and Literary Status of the Screenplay:The Case of »Scriptfic«
    DOI 10.1515/jlt-2013-0006 JLT 2013; 7(1–2): 135–153 Ted Nannicelli The Ontology and Literary Status of the Screenplay:The Case of »Scriptfic« Abstract: Are screenplays – or at least some screenplays – works of literature? Until relatively recently, very few theorists had addressed this question. Thanks to recent work by scholars such as Ian W. Macdonald, Steven Maras, and Steven Price, theorizing the nature of the screenplay is back on the agenda after years of neglect (albeit with a few important exceptions) by film studies and literary studies (Macdonald 2004; Maras 2009; Price 2010). What has emerged from this work, however, is a general acceptance that the screenplay is ontologically peculiar and, as a result, a divergence of opinion about whether or not it is the kind of thing that can be literature. Specifically, recent discussion about the nature of the screenplay has tended to emphasize its putative lack of ontological autonomy from the film, its supposed inherent incompleteness, or both (Carroll 2008, 68–69; Maras 2009, 48; Price 2010, 38–42). Moreover, these sorts of claims about the screenplay’s ontology – its essential nature – are often hitched to broader arguments. According to one such argument, a screenplay’s supposed ontological tie to the production of a film is said to vitiate the possibility of it being a work of literature in its own right (Carroll 2008, 68–69; Maras 2009, 48). According to another, the screenplay’s tenuous literary status is putatively explained by the idea that it is perpetually unfinished, akin to a Barthesian »writerly text« (Price 2010, 41).
    [Show full text]
  • AS and a Level English Literature
    AS and A Level English Literature Literary terms: A guide for students Literary terms: A guide for students Literary terms: A guide for students Contents Introduction .............................................................................................. 2 Frequently misused words ........................................................................... 3 General terms: .......................................................................................... 4 Poetry ...................................................................................................... 8 Genres ................................................................................................... 8 Analytic vocabulary ............................................................................... 10 Drama .................................................................................................... 11 Genres ................................................................................................. 11 Analytic Terms ...................................................................................... 12 Prose ...................................................................................................... 13 Genres ................................................................................................. 13 Analytic Terms ...................................................................................... 14 1 Literary terms: A guide for students Introduction The terminology below may be used support your reading and response
    [Show full text]
  • Download Lesson
    EPISODE 9 LESSON PLAN TEACHER SYNOPSIS Since ancient times, people around the world have used fairy tales, fables, and folktales to capture the imagination of and entertain an audience. However, these tales were meant to do more than entertain: they were used to teach morals. Fairy tales, fables, and folktales share other elements, such as talking animals, mythical creatures, and/or inanimate objects that think or feel emotions. Such tales are still being written and enjoyed today. Listen to hear how a professional writer transformed one boy’s story seed into a fantastic fable, complete with three edible houses and one hungry wolf. WHIP UP A FAIRYTALE with Bil Lepp STUDENT SYNOPSIS Want more resources? Download our activity- Do you have a favorite fairy tale, fable, or folktale? You might packed companion kits remember the characters and plot, but do you recall what you for Episode 9 Look Before learned from the story? A lesson you could apply to your every- You Eat! on our website. day life? Fairy tales, fables, and folktales are some of the oldest types of stories known, and while the stories may differ, all share common elements. Listen to hear a modern fable created by a professional writer and an eleven-year-old boy. LITERATURE CONNECTIONS Aesop’s Fables: The Classic Edition - Aesop Fairy Tales, Fables, Legends, and Myths - Bette Bosma Grimm’s Fairy Tales - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm How to Tell a Folktale - Carol Alexander The Illustrated Anansi: Four Caribbean Folk Tales - Philip M. Sherlock Weblinks are EXTERNAL WEB MATERIALS embedded into this PDF.
    [Show full text]
  • Phaedrus Plato
    Phaedrus Plato TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT ROMAN ROADS MEDIA Classical education, from a Christian perspective, created for the homeschool. Roman Roads combines its technical expertise with the experience of established authorities in the field of classical education to create quality video courses and resources tailored to the homeschooler. Just as the first century roads of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today’s technology to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. By combining excellent instruction augmented with visual aids and examples, we help inspire in your children a lifelong love of learning. Phaedrus by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett This text was designed to accompany Roman Roads Media's 4-year video course Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books. For more information visit: www.romanroadsmedia.com. Other video courses by Roman Roads Media include: Grammar of Poetry featuring Matt Whitling Introductory Logic taught by Jim Nance Intermediate Logic taught by Jim Nance French Cuisine taught by Francis Foucachon Copyright © 2013 by Roman Roads Media, LLC Roman Roads Media 739 S Hayes St, Moscow, Idaho 83843 A ROMAN ROADS ETEXT Phaedrus Plato TRANSLATED BY BENJAMIN JOWETT INTRODUCTION The Phaedrus is closely connected with the Symposium, and may be regarded either as introducing or following it. The two Dialogues together contain the whole philosophy of Plato on the nature of love, which in the Republic and in the later writings of Plato is only introduced playfully or as a figure of speech.
    [Show full text]
  • Henryson's Fables: "The Subtell Dyte of Poetry" Gregory Kratzmann
    Studies in Scottish Literature Volume 20 | Issue 1 Article 6 1985 Henryson's Fables: "the subtell dyte of poetry" Gregory Kratzmann Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Kratzmann, Gregory (1985) "Henryson's Fables: "the subtell dyte of poetry"," Studies in Scottish Literature: Vol. 20: Iss. 1. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol20/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you by the Scottish Literature Collections at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in Scottish Literature by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Gregory Kratzmann Henryson's Fables: "the subtell dyte of poetry" Henryson's Fables were once discussed almost exclusively as documents of social realism, or as humorous poems which at their best might be designated "Chaucerian." In an important article in 1962, Denton Fox urged "that it might be helpful to look at the Fables from a more severely literary viewpoint, and to examine them as poems"; further, he pleaded the necessity to examine the poems "as wholes," that is, as fables consisting of two carefully related parts, story and moralization.1 Although there has been some stimulating criticism of the Fables during the past twenty years, commentary has been neither as prolific nor as wide-ranging as that directed at The Testament of Cresseid, and there is room for more discussion of those two closely-related critical issues raised in Fox's article. This essay has two concerns.
    [Show full text]
  • Poetry That Expresses Thoughts and Emotions of a Single Speaker
    Type of writing done in verse form that Poetry uses figures of speech designed to appeal to emotions and imagination Poetry that expresses Lyric Poetry thoughts and emotions of a single speaker Poetry that tells a story Narrative Poetry Form and Structure Poem that is song-like; usually focuses Ballad on topics such as romance, adventure, and death; and tells a story Sonnet 14 line lyric poem A mourning poem; written for Elegy someone who has died Lyric poem on a serious subject; usually Ode addressed to one person or thing; often celebrates something a repeated sound, word, Refrain phrase, line, or group of lines Japanese 3 lined poem with 5 Haiku syllables in lines 1 and 3 and 7 syllables in line 2 Couplet two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme Triplets Three lined stanza Quatrains 4 line stanzas poetry that doesn’t have a set Free Verse rhyme scheme or meter A very long narrative poem that tells of Epic the life and journeys of a hero A group of consecutive lines in a Stanza poem that forms a single unit; like paragraphs Figurative Language comparison between two unlike Simile things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles comparison between two unlike things that does not use a Metaphor connecting word a group of words not meant to Idiom be taken literally overstating something, usually Hyperbole for the purpose of creating a comic effect giving human characteristics to Personification an object or an animal contradictory elements (two Oxymoron things that do not belong together) use of language that appeals to Imagery
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Fables and Folk Stories
    .s;^ '^ "It--::;'*-' =^-^^^H > STC) yi^n^rnit-^,; ^r^-'-,. i-^*:;- ;v^ r:| '|r rra!rg; iiHSZuBs.;:^::^: >» y>| «^ Tif" ^..^..,... Jj AMERICMJ V:B00lt> eOMI^^NY"' ;y:»T:ii;TOiriai5ia5ty..>:y:uy4»r^x<aiiua^^ nu,S i ;:;ti! !fii!i i! !!ir:i!;^ | iM,,TOwnt;;ar NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES 3 3333 08102 9908 G258034 Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/chinesefablesfolOOdavi CHINESE FABLES AND FOLK STORIES MARY HAYES DAVIS AND CHOW-LEUNG WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY YIN-CHWANG WANG TSEN-ZAN NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •: CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOKCOMPANY Copyright, 1908, by AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Entered at Stationers' Hall, London Copyright, 1908, Tokyo Chinese Fables W. p. 13 y\9^^ PROPERTY OF THE ^ CITY OF MW YOBK G^X£y:>^c^ TO MY FRIEND MARY F. NIXON-ROULET PREFACE It requires much study of the Oriental mind to catch even brief glimpses of the secret of its mysterious charm. An open mind and the wisdom of great sympathy are conditions essential to making it at all possible. Contemplative, gentle, and metaphysical in their habit of thought, the Chinese have reflected profoundly and worked out many riddles of the universe in ways peculiarly their own. Realization of the value and need to us of a more definite knowledge of the mental processes of our Oriental brothers, increases wonder- fully as one begins to comprehend the richness, depth, and beauty of their thought, ripened as it is by the hidden processes of evolution throughout the ages. To obtain literal translations from the mental store- house of the Chinese has not been found easy of accom- plishment; but it is a more difficult, and a most elusive task to attempt to translate their fancies, to see life itself as it appears from the Chinese point of view, and to retell these impressions without losing quite all of their color and charm.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Phaedrus and Apuleius' Metamorphoses1
    “Necessary Roughness”: Plato’s Phaedrus and Apuleius’ Metamorphoses1 JEFFREY T. WINKLE Calvin College Introduction Readers of Apuleius have long recognized the influence of Plato’s Phaedrus (along with other Platonic works) on his Metamorphoses, especially in the allegorical elements of the “Cupid and Psyche” centerpiece.2 Outside of “Cu- pid and Psyche” a handful of other allusions to the Phaedrus in the novel have been widely noted3 but it is the contention of this essay that elements of Plato’s Phaedrus are more deeply embedded in the themes and overall narrative(s) of the Apuleian novel than previously recognized. Reading the whole of the novel closely against the Phaedrus reveals that just as this particular dialogue provides a useful interpretive touchstone for the “Cupid and Psyche” tale, it functions in a similar and deliberate way for the novel’s principal narrative concerning Lucius, acting as backdrop to and underlining what we might call his fall and redemption. What follows is not an argument that the Phaedrus ————— 1 I am very grateful to my colleagues Ken Bratt, U.S. Dhuga, and David Noe for their helpful comments on an early draft of the essay as well as to Luca Graverini and the journal refer- ees especially for bringing me up to speed on recent scholarship and talking me down from particular interpretive ledges. 2 For Phaedrean (and other Platonic) influence on Cupid and Psyche see: Hooker 1955; Walsh 1970, 55ff, 195, 206ff; Penwill 1975; Anderson 1982, 75-85; Kenney 1990, 17-22; Schlam 1992, 82-98; Shumate 1996, 259ff; Dowden 1998; O’Brien 1998; Zimmerman 2004; Graverini 2012a, 112-113.
    [Show full text]
  • Epsitemology, Literary Genre and Knowledge Organisation Systems
    Epistemology, literary genre and knowledge organisation systems PAULINE RAFFERTY Aberystwyth University Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion, Wales [email protected] Abstract This theoretical paper considers genre as the epistemological foundation for fiction retrieval systems, in particular the relationship between the individual work and generic systems. It explores the characteristics of literary genres, and how they are determined, and examines ontological and historical aspects of genre. It considers the relationship between historically contingent generic transformations and literary genre as categorising principle. Finally, it offers some suggestions for future design of fiction KOS. Keywords: Fiction, Genres, Knowledge organisation systems, Tagging. 20 Años del Capítulo Español de ISKO. Actas del X Congreso ISKO Capítulo Español (Ferrol, 2011) Universidade da Coruña (España), 2012. ISBN: 978-84-9749-535-6 Pp. 553-565 EPISTEMOLOGY, LITERARY GENRE AND KNOWLEDGE ORGANISATION SYSTEMS 555 1. Preface Traditionally, where knowledge organisation systems (KOS) have dealt with fictional works, the approach has generally been through genre (see Beghtol, 1989, 1990, for an overview of fiction classification schemes). The notion of genre as categorisation principle comes to library science, relatively unexamined, from literary theory. It underpins many of the assumptions that fiction KOS has about fictional texts, even when the focus of the fiction retrieval system is predominantly based on user-warrant (e.g. The Book House, Pejtersen, 199, 59). Raymond Williams wrote “the recognition of the relation of a collective mode and an individual object …is a recognition of related practices. That is to say, the irreducibly individual projects that particular works are, may come in experience and in analysis to show resemblances which allow us to group them into collective modes” (Williams, 2001, 179).
    [Show full text]
  • The Verse Dramas of TS Eliot
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1959 Search for form| the verse dramas of T. S. Eliot Carol Sue Rometch The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Rometch, Carol Sue, "Search for form| the verse dramas of T. S. Eliot" (1959). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 3500. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/3500 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SEARCH FOR FORM; THE VERSE DRAMAS OF T.S. ELIOT by CAROL SUE ROMETCH B.A. Whitman College, 1957 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY 1959 Approved by; GhfiHrman, Boàrd of Examiners Dean, Graduate School WAY 2 8 1959 Date UMI Number: EP35735 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ütaMitatton PlAMiing UMI EP35735 Published by ProQuest LLC (2012). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author.
    [Show full text]
  • Aesop's Fables, However, Includes a Microsoft Word Template File for New Question Pages and for Glos- Sary Pages
    1 æsop’s fables Click here to jump to the Table of Contents 2 Copyright 1993 by Adobe Press, Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. The text of Aesop’s Fables is public domain. Other text sections of this book are copyrighted. Any reproduction of this electronic work beyond a personal use level, or the display of this work for public or profit consumption or view- ing, requires prior permission from the publisher. This work is furnished for informational use only and should not be construed as a commitment of any kind by Adobe Systems Incorporated. The moral or ethical opinions of this work do not necessarily reflect those of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibilities for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this work. The software and typefaces mentioned on this page are furnished under license and may only be used in accordance with the terms of such license. This work was electronically mastered using Adobe Acrobat software. The original composition of this work was created using FrameMaker. Illustrations were manipulated using Adobe Photoshop. The display text is Herculanum. Adobe, the Adobe Press logo, Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe Photoshop are trade- marks of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in certain juris- dictions. 3 Contents • Copyright • How to use this book • Introduction • List of fables by title • Aesop’s Fables • Index of titles • Index of morals • How to create your own glossary and question pages • How to print and make your own book • Fable questions Click any line to jump to that section 4 How to use this book This book contains several sections.
    [Show full text]
  • Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Axel KRUSI;
    SYDNEY STUDIES Tragicomedy and Tragic Burlesque: Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead AxEL KRUSI; When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead appeared at the .Old Vic theatre' in 1967, there was some suspicion that lack of literary value was one reason for the play's success. These doubts are repeated in the revised 1969 edition of John Russell Taylor's standard survey of recent British drama. The view in The Angry Theatre is that Stoppard lacks individuality, and that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a pale imitation of the theatre of the absurd, wrillen in "brisk, informal prose", and with a vision of character and life which seems "a very small mouse to emerge from such an imposing mountain".l In contrast, Jumpers was received with considerable critical approval. Jumpers and Osborne's A Sense of Detachment and Storey's Life Class might seem to be evidence that in the past few years the new British drama has reached maturity as a tradition of dramatic forms aitd dramatic conventions which exist as a pattern of meaningful relationships between plays and audiences in particular theatres.2 Jumpers includes a group of philosophical acrobats, and in style and meaning seems to be an improved version of Stoppard's trans· lation of Beckett's theatre of the absurd into the terms of the conversation about the death of tragedy between the Player and Rosencrantz: Player Why, we grow rusty and you catch us at the very point of decadence-by this time tomorrow we might have forgotten every­ thing we ever knew.
    [Show full text]