Aesop and the Imprint of Medieval Thought

This work studies two medieval translations of Aesop’s fables, one in Latin (1497) and one in vernacular Italian (1526), with a close examination of how each translation reflected its audience and its translator. It offers close readings of the “Feast of Tongues” along with six fables common to both texts: “The House Mouse and the Field Mouse,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Nightingale and the Sparrow Hawk,” “The Wolf and the Lamb,” “The Fly and the Ant,” and “The Donkey and the Lap-Dog.” The selected fables highlight imbalances of power, different stations in life, and the central question of “how shall we live?”

Jacqueline de Weever is professor emerita of Brooklyn College, CUNY, where she taught English medieval literature for more than 25 years. Her poems have appeared in the Brooklyn Review, Poetry Depth Quarterly, Timber Creek Review and many other poetry publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Jacqueline de Weever
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 217
Bibliographic Info: 2 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-5955-1
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0754-2
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Preface 1

Introduction: A “Feast of Tongues” 5

One. The Prologue: Voices in the Garden 25

Two. Aggressive Voices: Debate and Flyting 48

Three. Contradictory Voices 72

Four. Interior Voices of ­Self-­Examination 98

Five. The Failed Voice: Art vs. Might 126

Six. The Double Dowry of Multiple Voices 141

Appendix of Texts 151

Chapter Notes 185

Bibliography 201

Index 207

“It is de Weever’s obvious enjoyment of the interplay of texts, along with her facility with the languages that make this such a pleasure to read.”—Reference & Research Book News.