Take a photo of a barcode or cover
korrick 's review for:
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
Nearly a year or so ago, I began putting together my plans for my 2022 reading challenges, back when all my books were either on hand or a quick drive away and I knew exactly what editions were best for what reading I wanted to achieve. Fast forward to the end of summer of said year, and we have me as a reader, my personal collection lacking a few major chunks and the public libraries of my youth far behind me. So, if you're wondering why I'm marking this pathetic driblet as read, this is the edition I could get on what pressed opportunities I have available to me, so I'm taking what I can get and holding out hope of an eventual reread of something more substantial further out. For all that, the fact that I spend half of my typical workday staffing at a children's library means my brain is in a good place for appreciating what ended up being a luxurious picture book, each story accompanied by at least one full page illustration that took up at least twice, if not more, space as its textual counterpart. Hardly the sort of edition that values attention to the text's origins or accuracy of the translation over presenting the base material in as culturally mainstream fashion, but with my relocated existence still encountering new pleasures alongside new problems all amidst a continual lack of free time, it's probably for the better that I take a break from all my adult pursuits and spend some time indulging the inner child.
A quick Wiki-ing of Aesop leads one to several suppositions: one, that the figure of Aesop actually existed; two, that he existed in the seventh to sixth centuries BCE; and that, during a chunk of his life, he was a slave. Barring the uncertainty of however many of these tales in both this edition and at large that this figure was actually responsible for composing, it's one thing to know their most famous iterations as a child, quite another to come back to them after having experienced many of their iterations, with their flattering predators, their pride cometh before the falls, the turns have tabled nature of power in a world before bodycams and AK-47s. In that respect, it's no wonder that the tales remain popular, for what can one do in an imperfect world in the wake of the latest failed protest and in the aftermath of the most recently hushed up tale of the bodies of the powerless bought and sold at the whims of the powerful? When the plans lay fallow and the bones begin to regroup, then it is the time for stories that lay out their scene, draw up their dichotomy, and then set the wheels spinning that can either follow a line of the hero pulling through through increasingly grandiose unrealities, or an everyfolk making their way in a world of giants and snake oil peddlers and being blessed with both sufficient fortune and sheer wit to sidestep both. Mainstream media clamors for 'representation' and 'influence', but when one is on their own amongst the horrors that go unpunished and the violence that go ever on, it's the kind of story that seeps into the brain when young and seen as prophesy when old. For all that, this selection still rates a firm three stars, but I do have to wonder what the world would be like had these tales not made their way down for the last two and a half millennia. Very different, I imagine, and not likely for the better.
As it has been the case for the last three months, it continues to be a time at work, and the fact that this distracts me from how much of a time the rest of the world is at least three times a week is a double edged sword, at best. This means that pulling together my brain for even a review of less than 50 pages of what would be easily (perhaps lazily) classified as children's material is just at the limits of my strength (although the two vaccines I received twelve hours ago may also be kicking in with a vengeance). In any case, I'm not going to quibble about this work being a classic. I'm just rather put out by what circumstances went into my first experience with the piece, as the seeming simplicity of the text usually makes for a perfect leaping off point into the most luxurious depths of annotations and references for a brain like mine. However, when all is said and done, my procrastination on writing this review ended up timing it rather perfectly, considering the relevancy of the text to the present moment. In a word, a cat may look at a queen, and it is the Aesops of the world that remind us of such when we need it most.
A quick Wiki-ing of Aesop leads one to several suppositions: one, that the figure of Aesop actually existed; two, that he existed in the seventh to sixth centuries BCE; and that, during a chunk of his life, he was a slave. Barring the uncertainty of however many of these tales in both this edition and at large that this figure was actually responsible for composing, it's one thing to know their most famous iterations as a child, quite another to come back to them after having experienced many of their iterations, with their flattering predators, their pride cometh before the falls, the turns have tabled nature of power in a world before bodycams and AK-47s. In that respect, it's no wonder that the tales remain popular, for what can one do in an imperfect world in the wake of the latest failed protest and in the aftermath of the most recently hushed up tale of the bodies of the powerless bought and sold at the whims of the powerful? When the plans lay fallow and the bones begin to regroup, then it is the time for stories that lay out their scene, draw up their dichotomy, and then set the wheels spinning that can either follow a line of the hero pulling through through increasingly grandiose unrealities, or an everyfolk making their way in a world of giants and snake oil peddlers and being blessed with both sufficient fortune and sheer wit to sidestep both. Mainstream media clamors for 'representation' and 'influence', but when one is on their own amongst the horrors that go unpunished and the violence that go ever on, it's the kind of story that seeps into the brain when young and seen as prophesy when old. For all that, this selection still rates a firm three stars, but I do have to wonder what the world would be like had these tales not made their way down for the last two and a half millennia. Very different, I imagine, and not likely for the better.
As it has been the case for the last three months, it continues to be a time at work, and the fact that this distracts me from how much of a time the rest of the world is at least three times a week is a double edged sword, at best. This means that pulling together my brain for even a review of less than 50 pages of what would be easily (perhaps lazily) classified as children's material is just at the limits of my strength (although the two vaccines I received twelve hours ago may also be kicking in with a vengeance). In any case, I'm not going to quibble about this work being a classic. I'm just rather put out by what circumstances went into my first experience with the piece, as the seeming simplicity of the text usually makes for a perfect leaping off point into the most luxurious depths of annotations and references for a brain like mine. However, when all is said and done, my procrastination on writing this review ended up timing it rather perfectly, considering the relevancy of the text to the present moment. In a word, a cat may look at a queen, and it is the Aesops of the world that remind us of such when we need it most.