“I’m always highly irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality.” – Flannery O’Connor, “The Nature and Aim of Fiction”I was inundated with recommendations to read this book. It’s “brilliantly written,” and a “joy to read out loud,” and a “forgotten modern classic.” I wanted to see if it lived up to the hype, so I ordered a used copy online for a few bucks. It’s all of the above, and then some. This is a truly remarkable book.It details the plight of Good vs. Evil in an animal kingdom where the animals are unknowingly the Keepers of the devil figure Wrym, who is imprisoned inside the earth. It is firmly set in the fantastical, yet is also deeply rooted in Christian themes and imagery, similar to Narnia, but less suppositional. There are some great moments of allegorical tone though. Chapter 4 describes the creation of the world in imagery reminiscent of Genesis, and it mentions the animals: “To be sure, very few of them recognized the full importance of their being, and of their being there; and that ignorance endangered terribly the good fulfillment of their purpose. But so God let it be; he did not chose to force knowledge upon the animals.” To bring around the O’Connor quotation I introduced this review with, the fact that this is a fantasy novel about animals does not mean that is has no merit to our lives. It’s incredibly rich with meaning and allusions – and yet at the same time you can simply enjoy the music of its language. It’s both reality and escapism. There might be some who object to the book prima facie because, honestly, who wants to read an Epic where the hero is a rooster? I admit that the premise did put me off at first, despite very much enjoying Chaucer’s version of Chaunticleer and the Fox in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale (which this story borrows from somewhat). The irony is that the great evil in the book, Wyrm, has the same objections: “Oh, it was a wonder that Chauntecleer the Rooster, that a flock of broody Hens, a Dog, a Weasel, and tens of thousands of suchlike animals – and even that Ebenezer Rat – should be the Keepers of Wyrm! The little against the large. The foolish set to protect all the universe against the wise!” Yet I think that this is where the story is strongest. It’s similar in this way to the Redwall books by Brian Jacques, not merely because both are animal stories, but because each take a weak, maligned creature and use them as a hero. In Redwall, Mice are often the gallant warriors (Martin the Warrior, Matthias, Luke, Mattimeo, Mariel, etc). In this case it is a somewhat vain and oft solipsistic Rooster (he is not a traditional, pure hero, but is neither an antihero – he simply struggles with sin like the rest of us, but is capable of doing the right thing), the wonderful John Wesley Weasel, and a host of other animals I would not think of when I would consider a grand fight between Good and Evil. This is where the novel is actually rooted in realism – the characters are dynamic, rounded, and are often described with a rugged grittiness that belies what I’ve come to expect with a children’s book. This brings me to my next point. It is described as a children’s book. After all, it’s just a bunch of animals fighting each other, there’s nothing in it of value for grownups, right? Unfortunately I know a good many people who take that attitude towards what is, in their opinion, juvenile fiction. But The Book of the Dun Cow is no more exclusively for children than The Iron Giant, Up, or Wall-E are. I would argue that in some ways we have come to malign what we consider “kids stuff” and escort it to the sidelines, a positive effect of which is Young Adult fare like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. That’s a step in the right direction for Young Adult fare, but it doesn’t fix the problem of children’s books being too censored and custom made for adults’ expectations of what children should be reading. The results are usually books devoid of interestingly conflict or complex themes. This novel manages to be a story that is engaging both to young children, and to adults (similar to Watership Down, although I’d argue the prose is more poetical and rhythmic in Dun Cow, making it better suited for reading aloud to children). C.S. Lewis made the point that “by confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happens, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them or make them endurable. For in the fairy tales, side by side with the terrible figures, we find the immemorial comforters and protectors, the radiant ones.” Madeleine L’Engle strongly argued for equality of books for children or adults: “The only standard to be used in judging a children’s book is: Is it a good book?...Because if a children’s book is not good enough for all of us, it is not good enough for children.” All this to say, The Book of the Dun Cow is good enough for all of us; it models heroic sacrifice and perseverance in the face of doubt and evil, which are all the stronger because the heroes must suffer real pain and death and hardship. **A note on its Christianity: Yes, this book is unrepentant of its obvious religious tone, and if you do not have a good grasp of the Bible, you won’t be able to glean as much of the novel’s allusions and references and scenes because you won’t have the same rich history and tradition in your toolbox. But at the same time, this is not a pure allegory, nor is it a sermon, nor is it to be labelled in a subgenre such as “Christian fiction.” It is a work of art that is created because of its author’s faith, but it is not forced religious metaphors. **
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr. San Francisco, Harper Collins, 2003 (25th Anniversary Edition).Summary: This modern animal fable portrays a conflict between the beasts of the Earth with Wyrm of the underworld and his evil surrogates, and the heroism of a rooster, a dog, and the other beasts."Marooooned". This modern-day animal fable (first published in 1978) begins with this mournful and persisting cry from Mundo Cani Dog who, against the will of Lord of the Coop Chauntecleer, finds refuge with the hens of the coop and an array of other beasts from Ebenezer Rat to Lord Russell the Fox to John Wesley Weasel and the mysterious Dun Cow who appears at crucial turns in the fable. Chauntecleer brings order to this world, crowing the hours summoning the beasts to work and blessing them at night.Gradually the character of this lordly rooster emerges as he takes on the Rat who is eating the hens' eggs, and later as he rescues the children of Wee Widow Mouse and finds and rescues the Beautiful Pertolote, a mysterious refugee hen of sorts. Love blooms between these two, and marriage and chicks, even though she refuses to speak of the terror from which she has fled.What the beasts of the earth do not realize is that they are also the Lord's keepers, who keep the evil Wyrm from escaping the underworld to reek havoc on the cosmos. But Wyrm finds a vehicle for its evil intent in an old impotent rooster of another brood, Senex, who against nature lays an egg which hatches into the wicked Cockatrice who kills his father and breeds hordes of basilisks, venomous serpents who devastate the land.In the spring, the horror comes south to the land of Chantecleer, who mobilizes the beasts (including the ants) to meet the horde of basilisks, who crows them to battle, and comes face to face with the Cockatrice and then the deeper evil of Wyrm. The climax of the story involves Chauntecleer, the mysterious Dun Cow, and the surprising Mundo Cani Dog.The tale explores the question of how a seemingly ordinary figure rises to extraordinary heroism answering a call that seems to come from both within and above.We also see a tale of the conflict of good and evil, in which the beasts, who are in fact the keepers of the earth, must forsake the ordinary loves of daily life for extraordinary peril to preserve the order of the universe. It is a tale that has been told in various forms from early English Beowulf to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The genius of Wangerin is to create a kind of "animal farm" without humans where the animals are characterized by foibles, nobility and self-sacrifice, unlike Orwell's brutal world.Despite the fact that this book was a National Book Award winner, I passed it up for many years until one of the students I work with recommended it (thanks Katherine!). This is one of those books I wish I had read sooner, and might well read again because of the depths in this seemingly simple story that need more than one reading to explore. Like the stories of C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, children and youth may enjoy this story as well as adults. Only time will tell but this is one of those books that could become a timeless classic. The only question in our highly urbanized, technological society, is whether children (or adults) will understand a story with roosters, dogs, weasels, and a mysterious dun cow. One can only hope...
What do You think about The Book Of The Dun Cow (2003)?
A retelling of the Aesop's Fable Chauntecleer and the Fox. It's both epic and personal and every page propels you forward. I just couldn't put it down. I recommend this for Watership Down fans, Tolkien.....a great good vs. evil read... This book is for the faithful, for the believers in hope, in the possibility of good in us all. Yet there is something almost painfully sweet about the depth this story goes and how it will sound in your heart.....all contained in a barnyard, on the shoulders of animals.
—Mary Crabtree
A strange tale about a rooster, his coop, and his demesne of fellow beasts as they war against the evil Wyrm under the earth. The author employs several memorable medieval devices that will keep literature lovers fascinated. Unlike many fantasy novels, the outline of cultures, history, and geography remain sparse, though the characterization is more in-depth (and thus somewhat more modern). Wangerin--perhaps from his own pastoral experience--provides some of the best descriptions about the felt experience of leadership--loneliness, responsibility, discipline. Perhaps because of his Lutheranism, he also illustrates the nature and sense of true liturgy as it is experienced by all of us lowly creatures. The book is highly approachable for the younger set, though it is doubtful they would be able to draw as much out of it if they lack a working knowledge of medieval literature.
—Bart
Crossposted at BooklikesThe use of animals as stand in for humans, as allegorical devices, has a long history. This book is another entry into that field. It is nothing like Watership Down, which is a hero quest for rabbits, but instead in more of the tradition of Aesop or the medieval tales featuring Reynard. And Chaucer. It owes much to Chaucer, and not just the name of the protagonist, Chanticleer. The basic plot of the story is the threat to Chanticleer’s realm, his barnyard and surrounding area. Pretty much the area that his crow extends to, for the crow is what keeps time and sense. The threat comes from a Cockatrice and his basilisk children. Is it a logical tale? No, for the fox does lie down with the chickens as it were. It is an allegory, but in many ways, it is the best type of allegory, one that doesn’t lecture. It is a religious (largely Christian though it is loose involved to be simply God of any type) allegory but not heavy handed in the way that C. S. Lewis’ Narnia stories are. Chanticleer doubts and he struggles with his doubts. He sins, in every day ways as well as in more serious ways. The temptations are those of Smaug, those that speak to the hidden fears in our hearts. Chanticleer’s troops doubt as well, and some are not believers, but they are not the less valued by the rooster because of that. But it isn’t the religion of rejection or you are going to hell. In fact, the character of Perlcotte will raise some interesting questions. Gritty, realism, heart-breaking, and thoughtful.
—Chris
