Reynard the Fox

January 1, 2015
Timely translation of the medieval story cycle about a fox who constantly outwits the "not only dim-witted but also greedy, coarse and self-interested" folks in charge.Reynard the Fox rolls up all the best wiles of Odysseus, Harpo Marx and the Coyote of North American Indian mythology; he's a trickster, a court jester and a buffoon who, somewhat freer to speak truth to power than the rest of us, shows time and again that the emperor's clothes are threadbare. The exiled English printer William Caxton understood this, and his 15th-century translation of the Old French Roman de Renart, though subtle in its satire, made it plain "how clever subjects can survive enemies and kings." So Greenblatt writes in his introduction to this new translation by Simpson (English/Harvard Univ.), which properly places the stories about Reynard, which emerged as long ago as the 1100s, in the tradition of Aesop and other fabulists. Simpson's translation is fully serviceable, though there are some oddly herky-jerky clashes of diction scattered throughout: "Cousin Reynard, now's the time to open up your bag of tricks: if you're so clever, I suggest you help yourself. You're in a fix, buddy." "The wolf said: 'Just listen to this guy! I'm the one who's suffered and have cause to complain, and he wants me to pay him!' " If the characters sound like Sir Walter Scott at one moment and Lou Costello the next, that doesn't diminish the bite and force of the stories, which, though surely not to everyone's taste, are plenty of fun to read-especially when Reynard, having outwitted Lion and Wolf and Cat and every other creature in the French barnyard, finally talks himself into a cushy government job, at last securing a sinecure to guard the henhouse. Those who are able to navigate early modern English would do better to read Caxton, but this new version has the virtue of making the Reynard stories easily accessible.

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Starred review from February 1, 2015

The fox is one of the great animal tricksters in Western culture, the counterpart to the African Anansi the Spider, the Native American Old Man Coyote, and the East Asian Monkey King. Among the most important repositories is the Old French Roman de Renart, composed between the 11th and 13th centuries and translated into many European languages. In 1481, William Caxton, the printer of Chaucer and Malory, produced the first English translation based on a Flemish version. Simpson (Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English, Harvard Univ.), who has published many books on medieval and Reformation culture, here has converted Caxton's Middle English prose into vigorous modern English. The adventures of Reynard and his dealings with the court of the lion king are raucous and bawdy and boast a strong satirical and political edge. Simpson's translation aims for the fun and spirit of the original rather than linguistic accuracy. While there are two translations of the French Roman de Renart available, by Patricia Terry (1992) and D.D.R. Owen (1994), Simpson's is the first of Caxton's influential version. VERDICT Simpson's translation is both an important contribution to literary scholars, and an accessible, delightful, and entertaining read.--Thomas L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah

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