REYNARD THE FOX

Cultural Metamorphoses and Social Engagement in the Beast Epic from the Middle Ages to the Present

Edited by Kenneth Varty

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“This splendid collection ... edited by the world’s foremost authority on the subject, ... is useful for both scholar and general reader ... A model of erudition and unusually broad-ranging.”   · Speculum

There are many stories featuring the villainous hero Reynard the Fox in many languages told over many centuries, goingback as far as the early 12th century. All these stories are comic and much of the humour depends on parody and satire resulting in mockery, sometimes the subversion of certain kinds of serious literature, of political and religious institutions and practices, of scholarly argument and moralizing, and of popular beliefs and customs. The contributors to this volume, all of them experts in one or more of the Reynard stories and their backgrounds, focus on the transformation of these tales through various media and to what extent they reflect differences in the cultural, class, and generational background of their tellers.

Kenneth Varty is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow. He is the Founder and first President of the International Reynard Society (and currently its Honorary President) and founder and Chairman ofthe editorial board of Reinardus, its yearbook. He has also been Vice-President of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society since 1977.

Series: Volume 1, Polygons: Cultural Diversities and Intersections