The beast fable creates a certain distance between the characters on the
one hand and the author and readers on the other, probably even moreso then
than nowadays when we empathize with animals more than people once did--I
suppose Brecht would have called it an alienation-effect. In particualr Re:
Muiopotmos, William Nelson in _The POetry of Ed. Sp._ thought it was an
anticipation of Gloucester's "As flies to wanton boys so are we to the
gods; they kill us for their sport" and Judith Anderson picked up on that
and tied it in wiht Chaucer's beast-fable in "Nat worth a boterflye," see
McNeir and Provost and/or biblio in Sp. Enc. for facts of publication.One
might look at Annabel Patterson's book on Aesop's Fables; I haven't done
so, but I gather she starts from the surprising fact that aside from the
Bible Aesop's Fables was one of the very first books to be printed, which
indicates its popularity.At 06:33 PM 7/10/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear list subscribers,
>
>I am doing a project on Mother Hubberd's Tale and Muiopotmos. I would be
>grateful for suggestions as to what I should read about these poems in
>particular and Spenser's use of beast fable in general.
>
>Many thanks,
>Amanda Jones
>Graduate Teaching Assistant
>Virginia Tech
>
>
>
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