It is interesting to note that both Aesop & Uncle Remus were slaves, so some amount of harshness of their lives influenced their tales. Whereas Aesop's tales had a moral attached to each tale, Uncle Remus's Brer Rabbit used his wiliness to escape the clutches of the predatory Brer Fox & Brer Wolf.
Beatrix Potter was reputedly not very fond of children for whom she wrote, but was certainly very fond of animals in their habitat, who appeared in her tales. She was a very skilled & observant painter of small animals.
A. A. Milne, creator of the two immortal "Winnie the Pooh" prose works, not only made his animals human, but invested them with human psychological traits as well, like the depressive Eeyore, the hyperactive Tigger, the dyslexic owl, the bossy Rabbit, the anxiety ridden Piglet & Winnie himself suffering from ADHD. (Attention deficit hyperactive disorder). His prose was admirably complemented by Shepard's marvellous colour renditions.
Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows", gave the animals all the mannerisms of Edwardian gentlemen. Toad, notably is a stinging caricature of the British Upper Class, with inherited wealth & a snooty attitude towards his social inferiors, spending his ample time & money on momentary enthusiasms. All noted illustrators have tried their hand at illustrating it, notably Shepard, Rackham, Ingpen & the "impressionist" Inga Moore.
No comments:
Post a Comment