|
||||||
|
Main : fiction ISBN: 9781925581515 130 pp
Aesop the Fox
Suniti Namjoshi Aesop’s fables are brought to life by the timely intervention of Sprite from the future, who prods Aesop into debate about the meaning of stories: are they for fun, or do they have the chance to change the world? This book offers a virtuoso display into how the building blocks of fables can enchant, enrage, enlighten and educate us all.
Very little is known about Aesop who was supposed to have been a slave on the island of Samos in the sixth century BCE. It is his fables (and those attributed to him) that have come down to us through the centuries. In these tales, a fabulist from the future, referred to as Sprite, hoicks herself back to his century. “Why didn’t you save the world?” That’s the Sprite’s cry. Aesop, meanwhile, is trying to save his skin, make up his fables and live his life. Given the pitfalls of human nature, are the fables an Instruction Manual for staying out of trouble? What about morals, what about reform, what about the castigation of social evils? Sprite nags and cajoles and begins to wonder how much power a writer really has. The book offers a virtuoso display of how the building blocks of a fable can be used in a variety of ways. It’s witty, it’s satirical and the Sprite herself is a comical figure. But at the end, when she has to return to her own time, that is to our own time and to our broken world, her central question suddenly seems less absurd, and far more urgent. Suniti Namjoshi is an inspired fabulist. –Marina Warner
In stock.
Ships in 1-2 business days.
$24.95
Reviews
Write a review. this is a remarkable book! Suniti Namjoshi has taken the fables of Aesop and stories from the ancient "Life of Aesop" and inserted herself into the cast of characters as a time-traveling, bodiless Sprite who is the book's narrator. The Sprite meets up with Aesop (he's the one who actually yanks her into his world), along with his friend Androcles, then she sees them sold from one master to another, and finally she accompanies Aesop on his fatal/fateful journey to Delphi. Don't worry: you don't need to have read Aesop's fables or the Life of Aesop to enjoy this book, but if you do know something about the ancient Aesop, you get the extra bonus of seeing how Namjoshi is twisting and poking the old stories, often turning them inside-out. The Sprite has a warm sympathy for all her characters, major and minor (Pythagoras even makes an appearance), and she also challenges them as they debate the possible morals of the fables, and the meaning of freedom, of love, and of storytelling itself, and the duties of the storytellers.
If you love stories and storytelling, READ THIS BOOK. It is a delight from start to finish! Laura Gibbs, GoodReads
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 1. Broadcast your good deeds carefully 2. Stories can be altered to fit the moral 3. He promised me my liberty and then he sold me 4. Is that glorious? 5. What you want is what you deserve 6. I like women 7. Singing is also work 8. They're the Sybil's books read backwards 9. She can decide what happens next 10. What does it mean? 11. The dream mutates and shifts |
Aesop the FoxSuniti NamjoshiAesop’s fables are brought to life by the timely intervention of Sprite from the future, who prods Aesop into debate... Dark MatterRobin MorganI‘ve had me up my sleeve I‘ve pulled me from my hat I’ve planted myself in the audience as the patsy I dare to decipher... SurrogacyRenate KleinPared down to cold hard facts, surrogacy is the commissioning/buying/ renting of a woman into whose womb an embryo is... The Pimping of ProstitutionJulie BindelThis book examines one of the most contested issues facing feminists, human rights activists and governments around the... |