• Aboriginals in North America
  • Beast Literature
  • Canadiana.1
  • Dances & Music
  • Europe: Ukraine & Russia
  • Fables and Fairy Tales
  • Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
  • Feasts & Liturgy
  • Great Books Online
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Middle East
  • Molière
  • Nominations
  • Posts on Love Celebrated
  • Posts on the United States
  • The Art and Music of Russia
  • The French Revolution & Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Voyageurs Posts
  • Canadiana.2

Micheline's Blog

~ Art, music, books, history & current events

Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Arthur Rackham

Word and Art

06 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Children's Literature

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Arthur Rackham, Carl Larsson, Illuminated Manuscripts, Japonism, John Tenniel, Ukiyo-e, Walter Crane, word and art

A Mad Tea-Party by Arthur Rackham (Photo credit: Wikimedia.org)

A Mad Tea-Party by Arthur Rackham (Photo credit: Wikipedia.commons)

Japonisme is a French term. It was first used by Jules Claretie (3 December 1840 – 23 December 1913) in L’Art français en 1872 (French Art in 1872) 1913) in L’Art français en 1872 (French Art in 1872). I chose it to describe, in part, the Golden Age of illustration in Britain. The art work that was flooding Europe after Japan’s Sakoku (locked country) period were mere wood-block prints, or ukiyo-e, but no one questioned their beauty. They were in fact not only genuine art, but in many cases, masterpieces.

the Writer and the Illustrator

In Britain, Japonisme ushered in the Golden Age of illustrations. Both word and art could be reproduced very quickly. An author retained the services of an artist, John Tenniel, who, for his part, retained the services of an engraver or engravers. The engravers of  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) are the Brothers Daziel.

Although some artists could illustrate their text, which was the case with Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943), the author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, in most cases, illustrating a book successfully required the collaboration and compatibility of a writer and an artist. The illustrations were then engraved, unless the illustrator was also an engraver.

Peter_Rabbit_first_edition_1902a

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Therefore, when John Tenniel accepted to illustrate Lewis Carroll‘s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871), he and Lewis Carroll had long discussions. John Tenniel was accepting his first commission as the illustrator of children’s literature. Until he agreed to illustrate Lewis Carroll’s Alice, John Tenniel had been working as a political cartoonist for Punch magazine. He could draw, but the subject matter was brand new. Consequently, if successful, illustrating Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass could make history. Besides given that Lewis Carroll was a pioneer in the area of official literary nonsense, his task was all the more challenging. What was John Tenniel to do each time the text grew “curiouser and couriouser”?

Literary nonsense

Edward Lear (12 or 13 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) had published his Book of Nonsense, in 1846, a few decades before the Golden Age of Illustration. In particular, he had  popularized limericks, a literary genre, poetry to be precise. Witty literature was not new. It found a rich expression in the Salons of the first half of the 17th century in France and it was, to a certain extent, related to the conceit (la pointe), the witty and ingenious metaphors of the metaphysical poets of 17th-century England. Literary nonsense would become a feature of children’s literature.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

The flowers are beginning their masquerade as people. Sir Jonquil begins the fun by Walter Crane, 1899 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass were very successful and all the more so because children had gained importance. Although the mortality rate among children had not abated drastically, advances in medicine allowed parents to expect their children to survive childhood. Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a Prince consort, and gave birth to nine healthy children who married royals.

Gutenberg continued: the Instantaneous, yet…

Moreover the success of Lewis Carroll‘s and Tenniel’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, word and art, did make history. Johannes Gutenberg‘s invention of the printing-press in the middle of the 15th century had been major revolution, one of the most significant in European history. Well, a book had been produced that included fine reproductions of beautiful images. Printed books containing printed illustrations had been produced between 1500 and 1865 but Japonisme had eased the task.

The Calligrapher & the Artist

Compared to the labour of monks who copied books one at a time, Gutenberg’s invention made printing a text seem instantaneous, hence the revolutionary character of the invention of the printing-press. Let us also consider that the printing-press led to the growth of literacy which, in 19th-century Britain, was being extended to children as children’s literature was popular. However, if an illustrated book were to be a commercial success, producing the book demanded that word and art match in an almost inextricable manner.

What comes to mind is the collaboration between the calligrapher and the artist who illuminated such books as Books of Hours, laicity’s Liber Usualis. The printing-press had been invented but, as noted above, a good relationship between the author and the illustrator was crucial:

“There was a physical relation of the illustrations to the text, intended to subtly mesh illustrations with certain points of the text.” (See John Tenniel, Wikipedia.)

Japonisme

Printing illustrations, however, constituted a more challenging task than printing a text, a challenge that was eased by Japonisme. First, Japonisme allowed the rapid printing of illustrations. Second, it validated the work of illustrators. But third, it also simplified the duplication of illustrations.

Typically, the art of Japan featured:

  • a diagonal line crossing a vertical or horizontal line;
  • flat or lightly shaded colours;
  • a stark outline;
  • &c

Composition did not ease a printer’s labour, but flat colours and a stark outline, i.e. the linearity of Japanese wood-block prints, did help the illustrator and the printer. So did the use of flat colours.

Rackham’s work is often described as a fusion of a northern European ‘Nordic’ style strongly influenced by the Japanese woodblock tradition of the early 19th century. (See Arthur Rackham, Wikipedia.)

Rackham’s “Mad Tea-Party”, featured above, exhibits a diagonal line and it is a linear work of art. The colours are poured inside lines, which reminds me of colouring books for children. But note that there are few shadows. The cups and saucer do not cast a shadow, nor does the teapot. As for dimensionality, it is expressed through the use of lines rather than a juxtaposition of shades of the same colour or the juxtaposition of different colours. Wood-block printing allowed for a measure of dimensionality through the use of lighter or darker tones of a colour or colours. However, by and large, Japanese wood-block prints do not show the shadow of the objects they depict.

With respect to linearity, one need only compare Katsushika Hokusai‘s (c. 31 October 1760 – 10 May 1849) “Self-Portrait” and Rackham’s illustration of the “Town mouse and Country mouse”, shown in a previous post. Moreover, draping or dimensionality is achieved by using less lines (pale: close) or more lines (dark: distant).

Hokusai

Self-Portrait by Hokusai (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Town mouse and Country Mouse by Arthur Rackham (Wikimedia.org)

Town Mouse and Country Mouse by Arthur Rackham (Photo credit: Wikimedia.org)

Conclusion

Arthur Rackham’s illustrations are close to ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”). Walter Crane, however, is the most prolific among Japoniste illustrators of children’s books. He illustrated a very large number of literary works. We are acquainted with his Baby’s Own Æsop (Gutenberg [EBook #25433]), but he also illustrated The Baby’s Own Opera (Gutenberg [EBook #25418]), songs for children. Folklorists, however, had collected and classified a very large number of folk tales.

Illustrators had countless tales to illustrate: those produced by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Perrault, Madame d’Aulnoy. Anyone can rewrite the “Little Red Riding Hood” and illustrate it. Carl Larsson illustrated the “Little Red Riding Hood” in 1881. The Arts and Crafts movement was international. (to be cont’d)

I apologize for the delay. My computer is nearly dead and life has a way of making demands.

With my kindest regards. ♥

The Little Red Riding Hood by Carl Larsson

The Little Red Riding Hood by Carl Larsson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Japanese Artists

  • Kitagawa Utamaro  (c. 1753 – 31 October 1806),
  • Katsushika Hokusai (c. 31 October 1760 – 10 May 1849) and
  • Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 12 October 1858)

Japonisme in France & Britain

  • The Golden Age of Illustration in Britain (30 October 2015)
  • A Lesser-Known Toulouse-Lautrec (6 September 2013)
  • Mary Cassatt: an Intimate Japonisme (16 July 2013)
  • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (10 July 2013)

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Twelve Hours of the Green Houses (1795), by Kitagawa Utamaro (17 July 2013)
  • Manet, “Japonisme” and Modernism (8 July 2013)
  • Utagawa Hiroshige: a “Human Touch” (3 July 2013)
  • Katsushika Hokusai: Beauty (30 June 2013)
  • Utamaro Women and Japonisme (28 June 2013)

Sources and Resources

  • Crane, The Baby’s Own Æsop (Gutenberg [EBook #25433])
  • Crane, The Baby’s Own Opera (Gutenberg [EBook #25418])
  • Rackham Art Images
    http://www.artpassions.net/rackham/aliceinwonderland.html
  • Rackham, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Gutenberg [EBook #14838])
    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28885/28885-h/28885-h.htm#Page_82

“Alice in Wonderland” Tim Burton 2010 by Danny Elfman
Jane Burden Morris

066118© Micheline Walker
6 November 2015
WordPress

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Æsop & La Fontaine Online, and…

08 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Fables

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Arthur Rackham, Æsop, e-texts, Internet Archives, La Fontaine, Milo Winter, The Project Gutenberg, V. S. Vernon Jones., Walter Crane

Swans by Walter Crane

Swan, Rush and Iris, by Walter Crane (Art Nouveau)

Swan, Rush and Iris, by Walter Crane (1845-1915)
Bodycolour and Watercolour, England, 1875
© V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Sources

Project Gutenberg
Internet Archives
Bestiaria Latina
Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia or Wikipedia
the Encyclopædia Britannica (online)
 

Internet Sources

I spent a lifetime in the classroom and wish to praise initiatives such as the Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archives. I didn’t have those precious tools. Æsop’s fables are available online, including lovely illustrations one can also use for to illustrate La Fontaine’s retelling of an Æsopic fable. As for Bestiaria Latina or mythfolklore.net, it is a rich and accurate source of information and also leads to texts. Needless to say, Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia is an excellent and exhaustive source of information as is the monumental Encyclopædia Britannica.

I had prepared a long and informative article that contained a list of illustrators. There was a Golden Age of Illustration (1880 – 1920) and a Golden Age of Children’s Literature (see also Artcyclopedia and Pinterest). However, my post disappeared, with the exception of the earliest draft which, fortunately, contained a list of the e-texts I use most frequently. Posting that information will suffice.

—ooo—

The Project Gutenberg Collection

  • [EBook #11339] Æsop’s Fables, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones, intro. G. K. Chesterton, ill. Arthur Rackham, 1912
  • [EBook #19994] The Æsop for Children, illustrated by Milo Winter, 1919
  • [EBook #21] Æsop’s Fables by Aesop, translated by George Fyler Townsend (no date; no illustrations)

Illustrators

  • Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) [EBook #11339] Æsop
  • John Rae (Pinterest) La Fontaine [EBook #24108]
  • John Rae Neill (12 November 1877 – 19 September 1943)*
  • Milo Winter (7 August 1888 – 15 August 1956) [EBook #19994] Æsop for Children
  • Percy J. Billinghurst, ill. La Fontaine [EBook #25357]
  • Gustave Doré [EBook #50316] Walter Thornbury

* Could John Rae (ill.) be John Rae Neill (ill.) (12 November 1877 – 19 September 1943)?

La Fontaine, Jean de (1621 – 1695)

  • [EBook #50316] Walter Thornbury, Gustave Doré, ill.
  • [EBook #24108] Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks, by Jean de La Fontaine, translated by John William Trowbridge Larned, ill. John Rae or John Rae Neill (1918) (Wikipedia)
  • [EBook #25357] A Hundred Fables of La Fontaine. Percy J. Billinghurst, ill.
  • Jean de La Fontaine, Château-Thierry (FR & EN) all Fables (complete)
  • lafontaine.net.

For La Fontaine, my favourite site is the Jean de La Fontaine, Château-Thierry. It is La Fontaine’s official and bilingual (French-English) internet site.

La Fontaine wrote many Æsopic fables, so illustrations inspired by Æsop’s fables may also be used to illustrate La Fontaine’s retelling of fable by Æsop.

On the Market

  • [EBook #11339] Æsop’s Fables, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones, intro. G. K. Chesterton, ill. Arthur Rackham, 1912
  • [EBook #25357] A Hundred Fables of La Fontaine, Percy J. Billinghurst, ill.

The video features Walter Crane’s illustrations of fairy tales rather than fables, but the two genres are related.

Milo Winter

Milo Winter (Photo credit: Gutenberg #19994)

© Micheline Walker
7 September 2014
WordPress

The Æsop for Children

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Aesop’s “The Boy Bathing”

05 Friday Sep 2014

Posted by michelinewalker in Fables

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Aesop's Fables, Arthur Rackham, Ben Edwin Perry, G. F. Townsend, Gutenberg #11339, Gutenberg #21, Jan M. Ziolkowski, Jean de La Fontaine, L'Enfant et le maître d'école, Perry Index 211, The Boy Bathing, V. S. Vernon Jones.

 

002

The Boy Bathing Arthur Rackham (Photo credit: [EBook #11339]

The Boy Bathing, V. S. Vernon Jones (translator), G. K. Chesterton (introduction) Arthur Rackham (illustrator), 1912 (Photo credit: Gutenberg [EBook #11339])

The Boy Bathing

A Boy was bathing in a river and got out of his depth, and was in great danger of being drowned. A man who was passing along a road heard his cries for help, and went to the riverside and began to scold him for being so careless as to get into deep water, but made no attempt to help him. “Oh, sir,” cried the Boy, “please help me first and scold me afterwards.”

Give assistance, not advice, in a crisis.

The Boy Bathing

A BOY bathing in a river was in danger of being drowned. He called out to a passing traveler for help, but instead of holding out a helping hand, the man stood by unconcernedly, and scolded the boy for his imprudence. ‘Oh, sir!’ cried the youth, ‘pray help me now and scold me afterwards.’

Counsel without help is useless.

184

The Boy Bathing, G. F. Townsend, translator, Harrison Weir, illustrator, 1867 (Photo credit: Gutenberg [EBook #21])

L'Enfant et le Maître d'école, La Fontaine

L’Enfant et le Maître d’École, Jean de La Fontaine (Photo credit: Musée Jean de La Fontaine)

Æsop’s Fables : c. 620 – 564 BCE

Æsop (c. 620 – 564 BCE)
Phædrus (c. 15 BC – c. 50 CE)
Babrius (c. 2nd century CE)
 

Fables[i] are a source of wisdom and La Fontaine‘s, little jewels. There are several sources of fables, but the above, A Boy Bathing is an Æsopic or Æsopian fable retold by translators of Phædrus (Latin) and Babrius (Greek). Babrius, however, was a Roman.

Æsop, assuming there was an Æsop, was a freed Greek slave who did not write fables. We do not have a manuscript of Æsop’s fables. The fables told by Æsop were therefore transmitted through an oral tradition. They were not written down until Phædrus and Babrius committed them to paper in Latin and in Greek, at which point they entered the learned tradition.[ii]

Doubt lingers as to whether or not there ever lived an Æsop. La Fontaine wrote a life of Æsop and so did other writers. In the case of La Fontaine, writing a biography of Æsop was a way of negating authorship of his own fables.

Under Louis XIV, a friend of Nicolas Fouquet could not chronicle the excesses of his century in a direct manner. To protect himself, La Fontaine borrowed the subject matter of fables and usually featured anthropomorphic animals, humans in disguise. Never would Louis XIV, Sun King, have suggested that he was the lion king of La Fontaine’s Fables.

Ben Edwin Perry (1892–1968) : the Perry Index

There may not have been an Æsop, but there is a body of fables called Æsopic or Æsopian. An index of Æsopic fables was compiled by Ben Edwin Perry (1892 – 1968), a teacher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from 1924 to 1960.

The Wikipedia entry on the Perry Index lists 584 fables, but Wikipedia provides a list of “extended,” fabulists (585, etc.), three of whom are Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon; c. 720s – 13 April probably 799), Odo of Cheriton (c. 1185 – 1246/47), and Romulus FR. 

Characteristics of Fables

  • they usually feature talking animals;
  • in ancient Greece, fables that featured animals were called Æsopic and those that featured humans, Sybaritic;
  • for Isidore of Seville, fables were Æsopic (animals [souls], or “cities, trees, mountains, rocks, and rivers” [no souls]) or Libystic, “Libystic fables are those in which there is a verbal interchange of men with animals or animals with men.”[iii]
  • fables are an example, but there is a genre called Exemplum;
  • the example is the story. Humans remember stories because they illustrate. We are reminded of illuminated manuscripts;
  • the animals used in fables are anthropomorphic. They are humans in disguise, as animals;
  • anthropomorphism both shows and hides human behaviour;
  • children may think that the animals are quite foolish and believe that the manner in which they behave is just fine;
  • many authors have written fables but are not known as fabulists;
  • beast literature overrides genres; &c

Conclusion

I have posted a complete list of the fables discussed on this blog, but there is so much more to say. Fables are very complex and may have several morals.

I must close, but not without saying that I am so sorry we lost Steven Sotloff. His poor family! Next, they will kill a British citizen.

My kindest regards to all of you.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Madame de Sévigné on Vatel’s Death (8 August 2014)
  • La Fontaine’s Fables compiled & Walter Crane (25 September 2013 and 2 September 2014)
  • Vaux-le-Vicomte: Fouquet’s Rise and Fall (20 August 2013)

Sources and Resources

  • Perry Index 211: The Boy bathing in the River (Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia)
  • V. S. Vernon Jones, Project Gutenberg [EBook #11339]
  • John Fyler Townsend 205: The Boy Bathing
  • La Fontaine: L’Enfant le Maître d’École (I.19) FR (I of XII books)
  • La Fontaine: The Boy and the Schoolmaster (I.19) EN
  • I have not found this fable in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther motif index. Antti Aarne was the pioneer. He was followed by Stith Thompson. In 2004, Hans-Jörg Uther published his Types of International Fokltales: A Classification and Biography.
  • Aarne–Thompson classification system – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia (various links)

____________________

[i] “fable.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 04 Sep. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/199714/fable>.

[ii] Ben Edwin Perry, translator, Babrius and Phædrus, Fables (Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library 436, 1965). (scroll down a little)

[iii] Jan M. Ziolkowski, Talking Animals, Medieval Latin Beast Poetry, 750 – 1150 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), pp. 18 -19.

 —ooo—

Bach / Marcello Adagio – Concerto in D minor

Sensitiva, Miquel  Blay

Sensitiva, Miquel
Blay

© Micheline Walker
September 4, 2014
WordPress

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

“The Cock and the Pearl,” La Fontaine cont’d

11 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Fables

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Arthur Rackham, Avianus, Harriet Spiegel, Jean de La Fontaine, Marie de France, moral, Perry Index 503, riddle, The Cock and the Jewel, The Cockerel and the Jewel, Walter Crane, Ysopet-Avionnet

010 
The Cock and the Pearl & The Wolf and the Lamb
(Photo credit: Gutenberg eBook 25433)
Jean de La Fontaine (8 July 1621 – 13 April 1695)
Le Coq et la Perle (I.20)
The Cock and the Pearl  (I.20) 
Perry Index 503 (Æsop) The Cockerel and the Pearl
 
 

THE COCK AND THE PEARL

A rooster, while scratching for grain,
Found a Pearl. He just paused to explain
That a jewel’s no good
To a fowl wanting food,
And then kicked it aside with disdain.
[EBook #25433]

IF HE ASK BREAD WILL YE GIVE HIM A STONE?

4
Photo credit: Walter Crane
[Gutenberg EBook #25433]
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)
 

“The Cock and the Pearl”

It is within the nature of fables, and literature, to be ambiguous, but not necessarily impenetrably closed. Although Jean de La Fontaine‘s “The Cock and the Pearl” suggests that we do not always see an object’s intrinsic worth nor, for that matter, a person’s intrinsic worth, it may be interpreted differently. “The Cock and the Pearl” presents a riddle as does Walter Crane‘s shortened “Cock and Pearl,” a limerick, or five-line poem, with the rhyme scheme aabba.  Its moral is not altogether apparent: “If he ask bread will ye give him a stone?” However, the exemplum, or illustration, makes the limerick clearer.  This cock needs food more than he needs jewels.

As for La Fontaine’s full length but very short “Cock and the Pearl,” it has a second exemplum that further illustrates the first exemplum. This doubling is intentional. In “Le Bûcheron et Mercure” (“The Woodman and Mercury” [1.V.1]), La Fontaine writes that he sometimes provides a “double image,” or second exemplum, which is the case in “The Cock and the Pearl.” Having told about the cock who gives a pearl to a jeweller in exchange for a “crumb of bread,” La Fontaine also tells about a “dunce” who finds a rare manuscript, takes it to a bookstore, and leaves it there in exchange for a gold coin (un ducaton).  In “The Cock and the Pearl,” the fabulist himself, transforms the cock into a “dunce.” As a result, the fable is not altogether anthropomorphic.

The First Exemplum

In the first exemplum, or “ìmage,” the finder knows he has unearthed a precious jewel.  He would not otherwise take the pearl to a jeweller saying “I think it fine,” « Je la crois fine ». La Fontaine’s translator also writes that the cock scratched up “a pearl of purest ray” and he refers to the jeweller as a  beau premier Lapidaire, i.e. someone the cock does not know or someone who was not recommended to him. La Fontaine then resets his narrative using a mirror-image esthetics or “double image” (“The Woodman and Mercury” [V.1]).

The Second Exemplum

In the second image, a “dunce,” now a man, finds a “manuscript of merit,” takes it to a bookstore and leaves it there in exchange for a gold coin. The word “dunce” is derived from the name of John Duns Scotus[ii] (c. 1266 – 8 November 1308) and, by calling someone a “dunce,” un ignorant or ignoramus, La Fontaine himself provides his fable with an interpretation. The fable is about a dunce or un ignorant. Consequently, although the moral is not summed up in a sentence judiciously placed at the end or beginning of the fable, in “The Cock and the Pearl,” the protagonist of the moral, a cock or a man, is un ignorant or a dunce.

Yet, the “The Cock and the Pearl” invites other interpretations, but the use of the word “dunce” (un ignorant, or ignoramus) could say it all, or almost. Fables may be very unkind to humans who often deserve a lesson or two.

150
“The Cock and Pearl,” by Arthur Rackham (1912)
(Photo credit: Gutenberg [eBook #11339])
 

Jean de la Fontaine’s « Le Coq et la Perle »

Coq-et-la-Perle

The Cock and the Pearl
 
A cock scratched up, one day,
A pearl of purest ray,
Which to a jeweller he bore.
“ I think it fine,” he said,
“ But yet a crumb of bread
To me were worth a great deal more. ”
So did a dunce inherit
A manuscript of merit,
Which to a publisher he bore.
“ It’s good,” said he, “I’m told,
Yet any coin of gold
To me were worth a great deal more. ”
 
Wenceslaus Hollar, illustrator
 
 
 
 

The Ysopet-Avionnet: a Grammar Textbook

Phædrus and Babrius: two traditions of fables

However, in the Middle Ages, “The Cock and the Jewel” was the first fable of a widely-used grammar book. (See “The Cock and The Jewel,” Wikipedia). In France, this grammar book was called the Ysopet-Avionnet,[i] which suggests a combination of the two traditions of Æsopic fables: the Latin tradition and the Greek. At one point, it was believed the word ‘Ysopet’ [a diminutive of Ésope] stood for the Latin tradition and that the word ‘Avionnet’ [also a diminutive] referred to Avianus’ popular collection of 42 fables written in Latin, but substantially rooted in the Greek tradition, Babrius’ fables.  According to the presentation page of the online Ysopet-Avionnet (please click on the Ysopet-Avionnet) I have used, “[t]he title Ysopet-Avionnet was originally given to the fables of Avianus alone.”

Avianus

However, because the Ysopet-Avionnet contained and still contains 64 Æsopic fables, translated by “Romulus,” and 18, translated by Avian or Flavius Avianus, there had to be a Romulus or a person using the name Romulus as a pseudonym.  It would appear, however, that the fables contained in the Ysopet-Avionnet are rooted in both the Latin tradition, the fables of Phædrus (c. 15 BC – c. 50 AD), and the Greek tradition, the fables of Babrius (c. 2nd Century CE).

Avianus lived in the 5th century CE, the 400s.  His collection of 42 fables, translated into Latin, proved a success.  Famed English printer and translator William Caxton (ca. 1415~1422– ca. March 1492) printed Avianus’ 42 fables in the 15th century (1484) and then translated them into English naming his collection The Fables of Avian.  

image21
Le Coq et la Perle
 
Un jour un Coq détourna    
Une Perle, qu’il donna        
Au beau premier Lapidaire.
“ Je la crois fine, dit-il ;
Mais le moindre grain de mil
Serait bien mieux mon affaire.”
Un ignorant hérita
D’un manuscrit, qu’il porta
Chez son voisin le Libraire.
“Je crois, dit-il, qu’il est bon ;
Mais le moindre ducaton
Serait bien mieux mon affaire.”
 
(Photo credit: Gutenberg 
 [EBook #18732])
 

The Moral

“The Cock and the Jewel” is the first fable of the Ysopet-Avionnet where it is entitled “Du coc et de l’esmeraude” (“The Cock and the Emerald”), in old French, and “De Gallo et Iaspide,” in Latin. “The Cock and the Emerald” most certainly owes some of its prominence to its being the opening fable in a widely-used textbook. The Ysopet-Avionnet can be read online (please click on the title) but the jewel is an emerald rather than a pearl and the fable entitled “Du coc et de l’esmeraude,” “The Cock and the Emerald” (“De Gallo et Iaspide”). Therefore, the pearl is a function and so is the cock himself. In other words, the pearl’s role could be played by any precious jewel. As for the cock, La Fontaine transforms him into a human being before our very eyes.

“Du coc et de l’esmeraude:” The Moral

More importantly, however, “Du coc et de l’esmeraude” has a moral. Unlike more modern translations of Æsop’s fables, “Du coc et de l’esmeraude” does not present a riddle. It has in fact a long moral according to which the stone, the emerald, means wisdom and the cock, folly. The fool is foreover a fool and he cannot stay still.  Fools have no stability, or fermeté. The online edition I have used is dated 1919, and is based on three manuscripts of the 14th century (Brussels, Bibl. roy. 11193; Brit. mus. Add. 33781; Paris, Bibl. nat. fonds franç. 1594). It was edited by Kenneth McKenzie and A. Oldfather and published by the University of Illinois. However, the French is old French. (See Ysopet-Avionnet.)

Jean de La Fontaine

Which takes us back to La Fontaine. The moral of his “Cock and Pearl” is somewhat veiled, but thinly so. As noted above, the finder goes to the beau premier Lapidaire (jeweller) and is called un ignorant (ignoramus).  He is a “dunce,” in an English translation. Fables being anthropomorphic, i.e. humans in disguise, the “dunce” fares poorly among humans. If such persons can settle for a “crumb of bread,” they are unlikely to choose a good leader or a good spouse. As well, it would also be difficult for a “dunce” to tell right from wrong. Dunces may, in fact, be so foolish as to believe they are harming others when they are harming themselves.  To La Fontaine’s “double image,” or two exempla, we could add a third or a fourth exemplum. But the moral of the fable would always be that fools are fools and will forever remain fools. Other fabulists have offered different interpretations, but it could well be that “The Cock and the Pearl” is about human folly and fools. Fools cannot see the intrinsic value of an object or human being.

Other fabulists include John Lydgate‘s (c.1410), Samuel Croxall (1722), John Ogilby (1665) Wenceslaus Hollar (17th century), Robert Henryson (The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian [Greece], c. 1480), William Caxton (1484), etc.

Marie de France

“The Cock and the Pearl” is also the first fable of Marie de France‘s (1160-1210) famous collection, where “The Cock and the Pearl” is entitled “Del cok e de la gemme” (“The Cock and the Gem”).  Normandy-born Marie de France lived in England.  She will be discussed in a later post.  However, in closing, I should point out that according to Wikipedia’s entry on “The Cock and the Jewel,” this fable can be compared to Zen Buddism‘s kōan, a story, dialogue, question, or statement, that may provoke “great doubt.”  (See kōan, Wikipedia.)  I must end this post as it is already far too long.  However, I will first provide the English translation, by Harriet Spiegel,[iii] of Marie de France’s moral for “Del cok e de la gemme.”  True to anthropomorphism, the moral begins with a “Many people are like this…”

The Cock and the Gem

Many people are like this
When something does or suit their wish.
What for the cock and gem is true
We’ve seen with men and women too:
They neither good nor honour Prize;
The worst they seize; the best, despise. 
 
lossy-page1-714px-Marie_de_France_1_tif
Marie de France, illuminated manuscript
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)
 
_________________________
[i] The Ysopet-Avionnet is available in English, from Amazon.France
[ii] “He was known as “Doctor Subtilis” because of the subtle distinctions and nuances of his thinking. Later philosophers in the sixteenth century were less complimentary about his work, and accused him of sophistry. This led to his name, “dunce” (which developed from the name “Dunse” given to his followers in the 1500s) to become synonymous for ‘somebody who is incapable of scholarship’.”  (See Duns Scotus, Wikipedia.)
[iii] Harriet Spiegel, editor and translator, Marie de France, Fables (Toronto: the University of Toronto Press, 2000 [1994]), pp. 31-32.
 

RELATED ARTICLES

  • The Fox and Crane, or Stork
  • “Le Chêne et le Roseau” (The Oak and the Reed): the Moral
  • La Fontaine’s Fables Compiled & Walter Crane

Sources and Resources

Ysopet-Avionnet http://archive.org/details/ysopetavionnetla00aeso
http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/index.htm
http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/perry/503.htm
Perry Index
 
 
1. Le Coq et la Perle

http://www.la-fontaine-ch-thierry.net/coqperl.htm

2. S. Vernon Jones, (tr) G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Rackham (ill)
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11339/11339-h/11339-
[EBook #11339]
 
3. George Fyler Townsend, translator
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21/21-h/21-h.htm#link2H_4_0008
[EBook #21]
 
4. Harrison Weir, John Tenniel and Ernest Griset, illustrators
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18732/18732-h/18732-h.htm
[EBook #18732]
 
5. The Æsop for Children, Milo Winter, illustrator
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm#Page_39
[EBook #19994]
 
6. The Baby’s Own Æsop, Walter Crane, illustrator
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25433/25433-h/25433-h.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25433/25433-h/25433-h.htm#Page_10
[EBook #25433]
 
Le Coq et la Perle
 
Un jour un Coq détourna   
Une Perle, qu’il donna       
Au beau premier Lapidaire.
“ Je la crois fine, dit-il ;
Mais le moindre grain de mil
Serait bien mieux mon affaire. ”
Un ignorant hérita
D’un manuscrit, qu’il porta
Chez son voisin le Libraire.
“ Je crois, dit-il, qu’il est bon ;
Mais le moindre ducaton
Serait bien mieux mon affaire. ”
 
 
image21
(Photo credit Gutenberg [EBook #18732])
 

Le Chant des oiseaux – Clément Janequin  (c. 1485 – 1558)

 
 449px-Wenceslas_Hollar_-_The_cock_and_the_jewel
© Micheline Walker
10 October 2013
WordPress
 
“The Cock and Jewel”
by Wenceslaus Hollar
 
(Please click on the image to enlarge it.)
 

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

La Fontaine’s “The Fox and the Grapes”

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Fables

≈ 40 Comments

Tags

Arthur Rackham, Æsop, cognitive dissonance, Des vertes et des pas mûres, green, La Fontaine, Marianne Moore, subtext, The Fox and the Grapes, vert

11,1
The Fox and the Grapes, by illustrator John Rae (1882-1963)[i] 
 
“The Fox and the Grapes” is classified as AT 59 in the Aarne-Thompson motif index.  In the Perry Index, it is Æsop’s fable number 15.
It finds antecedents in Æsop’s Fables and the Roman de Renart, br. XI, v. 257-333 (FR), or Reynard the Fox.  It is Jean de La Fontaine‘s « Le Renard et les Raisins » and Æsop’s The Fox and the Grapes.
 
11,3
The Fox and the Grapes, by illustrator John Rae  
 
The Fox and the Grapes, by Æsop
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11339/11339-h/11339-h.htm#030-2

A hungry Fox saw some fine bunches of Grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach: so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, “I thought those Grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour.”  (V S Vernon Jones, translator [EBook #11339])

Le Renard et les Raisins, by La Fontaine
(Château-Thierry)
 
Certain renard Gascon, d’autres disent normand,
Mourant presque de faim, vit au haut d’une treille (Mourant: Dying)
Des raisins mûrs apparemment
Et couverts d’une peau vermeille.
Le galant en eut fait volontiers un repas; (un repas: a meal)
Mais, comme il n’y pouvait atteindre : (atteindre: to reach)
« Ils sont trop verts, dit-il, et bons pour des goujats. » (verts: green)
Fit-il pas mieux que de se plaindre ?
(III. 11)
 
The Fox and the Grapes, by La Fontaine
[EBook #50316]
 
A fox, almost with hunger dying,
Some grapes on a trellis spying,
To all appearance ripe, clad in
Their tempting russet skin,
Most gladly would have eat them;
But since he could not get them,
So far above his reach the vine
“They’re sour,” he said; “such grapes as these,
The dogs may eat them if they please!”
Did he not better than to whine?
(III. 11)
 

Cognitive Dissonance: incompatible Ideas

“The Fox and the Grapes” is one of Æsop‘s as well as Jean de La Fontaine‘s (III. 11) better-known Fables.  La Fontaine’s “Fox and Grapes” was published in the third book of in his first collection of Fables (1668).  According to Wikipedia, this fable “can be held to illustrate the concept of cognitive dissonance.” (See The Fox and the Grapes, Wikipedia)  “In this view, the premise of the fox that covets inaccessible grapes is taken to stand for a person who attempts to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously.  In that case, the disdain the fox expresses for the grapes at the conclusion to the fable serves at least to diminish the dissonance even if the behaviour in fact remains irrational.”[ii]

“When the fox fails to reach the grapes, he decides he does not want them after all.  Rationalization (making excuses) is often involved in reducing anxiety about conflicting cognitions, according to cognitive dissonance theory.”  (See The Fox and the Grapes, Wikipedia)

621-20162
The Fox and the Grapes, by Gustave Doré, 1870 (below), 1880 (above)
(Photo credit: Google images)
 
2786759
 

Linguistic Dissonance: ‘vert’ and ‘sour’

La Fontaine writes that the grapes were ‘vert(s)’ (green) instead of ‘sour.’  Vert is associated with a lack of maturity or naivety, in both French and English.  In the French language, ‘vert’ may also refer to female immaturity.  In Wikipedia’s entry on “The Fox and the Grapes,” the author mentions an illustration by Gustave Doré (6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) that reveals the second meaning of ‘unripe,’ ‘vert,’ and, consequently, also reveals the story’s “subtext:”[iii] 

“Gustave Doré‘s illustration of the fable for the 1870 edition pictures a young man in a garden who is looking towards the steps to a mansion in the distance on which several youung women are congregated. An older man is holding p his thumb and forefinger, indicating that they are only little girls. The meaning of this transposition to the human situation hinges on the double meaning of ‘unripe’ (vert) in French, which could also be used of a sexually immature female.  From this emerges the story’s subtext, of which a literal translation reads

“The gallant would gladly have made a meal of them
But as he was unable to succeed, says he:
‘They are unripe and only fit for green boys.’”
 

Des Vertes et des pas mûres

The French expression « Des vertes et des pas mûres » (the green and the unripe) may refer to difficult experiences, but it may also refer to things racy (saucy) and shocking.  Babrius‘ Greek “Fox and Grapes” has the same “ambiguity.”  The literal meaning of the word(s) ‘omphakes eisin,’ ‘Omphax,’ is unripe grape.  Metaphorically, however, it describes a girl “not yet ripe for marriage.”

As for the English expression “sour grapes,” it is from the fable “The Fox and the Grapes,” and would mean: false pretenses.  (See The Fox and the Grapes, Wikipedia)

The Moral

The translations of the Moral

  • “I thought those Grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour” (Æsop, V S Vernon Jones)
  • « Fit-il pas mieux que de se plaindre ? »
  • Did he not better than to whine?
  • “Better, I think, than an embittered whine.” (La Fontaine, Marianne Moore)

American modernist author Marianne Moore (15 November 1887 – 5 February 1972) provided a lovely prose translation of La Fontaine’s last line.  Marianne Moore’s translation “sings” and it moves: alliteration, consonance: b, t, r; and assonance: i, e(r).  It is therefore a truly poetical English-language moral.

Cognitive dissonance and linguistic dissonance

“The Fox and the Grapes” illustrates the theory of cognitive dissonance (the perversion of rationalization).  There is cognitive dissonance when a person “attempts to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously” (Jon Elster).  However, according to this theory, expressing scorn for what cannot be attained “serves to diminish the dissonance,” which makes it a rather useful ‘perversion.’  It would seem that such a moral is consistent with the popular moral of “The Fox and the Grapes,” which is that, from a practical point of view, it is quite appropriate to lessen one’s disappointment by finding imperfection with what is beyond one’s reach.

But, although this fable is part of the Roman de Renart, where the fox is a trickster, the fox featured in “The Fox and the Grapes,” is a rather philosophical character.  Playing tricks requires savvy or savoir-faire, as does negotiating the various events of life, some pleasant but some not so pleasant.  So if our fox can find fault with what he coveted, he is a happy fellow and, to a certain extent, he is also wise.  As for the young girls of the subtext, they were undoutedly too ‘vertes’ (green).

In “The Cat’s Only Trick,” the cat’s claws allow the cat to climb a tree and thereby escape the hunting dogs who kill the fox.  In that fable, the trickster is fooled.  It is a comic text.  As for our fox, he is not the wise fox featured in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry‘s (1900-1944) The Little Prince (1943), but he is emotionally competent, a form of wisdom.

Green is the colour of hope, and hope, the finest of virtues.  I will always remember discovering Charles Péguy‘s petite fille espérance, the little girl hope, the second virtue: faith, hope and charity.

030-1
The Fox and the Grapes, Arthur Rackham
(Photo credit: Project Gutenberg)
[EBook #11339]
 
Sources
 
-La Fontaine’s Le Renard et les Raisins
(Château Thierry)
-Æsop’s “The Fox & Crane, or Stork”
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25433/25433-h/25433-h.htm#Page_9
Æsop’s “The Fox and the Grapes” or
“The Fox and the Grapes out of Reach” 
–http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21/21-h/21-h.htm#link2H_4_0210
[EBook #21]
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11339/11339-h/11339-h.htm#030-2
[EBook #11339]
The Æsop for Children 
–http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm
[EBook #19994] 
“The Fox and the Grapes”
–http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm#Page_20
[EBook #19994]  
Babrius‘ Greek Translation 2nd century CE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrius
Phædrus‘ Latin Translation Book IV –  III. De Vulpe et Vua (c. 15 BCE – c. 50 CE)
http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/phaedrus/43.htm
La Fontaine: The Fox and the Grapes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes
Wikipedia’s entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes
 
___________________________________ 
[i] Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks from the French of La Fontaine
W.T. (William Trowbridge) Larned (translator)
[EBook #24108]
[ii] Jon Elster, Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
[iii] The Fox and the Grapes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes
 
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (19 December 1676 – 26 October 1749) 
Simphonia [Sonata] n. 4 for violin and basso continuo
Chaconne
Les Solistes du Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet (conductor)
 
030-2

The Fox and Grapes,
by Arthur Rackham
[EBook #11339]
(Photo credit: Project Gutenberg)

 
© Micheline Walker
22 September 2013 
WordPress

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

News & Views: 28 October 2012

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ Comments Off on News & Views: 28 October 2012

Tags

Arthur Rackham, Gazette, Jenő Jandó, Le Devoir, Le Monde, Le Monde diplomatique, National Post, WordPress

  —   Arthur Rackham, Cinderella, 1909

Photo credit: Antique Vintage Art
Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939)
 

I wrote my final blog on the American presidential election and will be posting it after I send the News.  There is more to say about the “Noble Savage” and other topics.

The article I will post I about planned parenthood.  I am making the point that there is hypocrisy in the attitude of Republicans.  If a weathy person gets sicks, he or she can afford treatment and medication.  Moreover, a wealthy woman can manage if and when she will have a child.  She can buy birth control and she can buy an abortion.   Moreover, she can also afford children and can hire help in caring for them.

But my post lacks an important paragraph which would have to do with a woman’s right to say “no” to unprotected sexual intercourse.  There is nothing wrong with a woman saying “no,” until she is ready to have a child.  In fact, there are still women who say “no” until they have found a husband or are in a stable and permanent relationship.  If a man cannot understand a woman’s wish to wait, it may well be prudent to let him go.  Do not listen to such arguments as the classic you-don’t-love-me-if-you-wont…  In other words, do not let a man bully (that word again!) you into sexual intercourse.  Walk away as fast as you can and do not look back.

The News

English
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN
 
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/
 
French
Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/
La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
 
German
Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
 
Micheline Walker©
October 28th, 2012
WordPress
 
composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791),
piece: Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 – I. Andante grazioso
pianist: Jenő Jandó (born 1 February 1952 in Pécs)
 

45.408358 -71.934658

Micheline's Blog

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Europa

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,693 other subscribers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Categories

Recent Posts

  • The American Debt Ceiling “Ritual”
  • The Golden Age of Dutch painting: a Prelude
  • Winter Scenes
  • Epiphany 2023
  • Pavarotti sings Schubert’s « Ave Maria »
  • Yves Montand chante “À Bicyclette”
  • Almost ready
  • Bicycles for Migrant Farm Workers
  • Tout Molière.net : parti …
  • Remembering Belaud

Archives

Calendar

June 2023
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« May    

Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • WordPress.org

micheline.walker@videotron.ca

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker

Social

Social

  • View belaud44’s profile on Facebook
  • View Follow @mouchette_02’s profile on Twitter
  • View Micheline Walker’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View belaud44’s profile on YouTube
  • View Miicheline Walker’s profile on Google+
  • View michelinewalker’s profile on WordPress.org

Micheline Walker

Micheline Walker
Follow Micheline's Blog on WordPress.com

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

  • Follow Following
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Join 2,485 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Micheline's Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: