Of Reynaert the Fox : Text and Facing Translation of the Middle Dutch Beast Epic Van den vos Reynaerde

An entertaining reworking of the most popular branch of the Old French tale of Reynard the Fox, the mid-thirteenth century Dutch epic Van den vos Reynaerde is one of the earliest long literary works in the Dutch vernacular. Sly Reynaert and a cast of other comical woodland characters find themselves again and again caught up in escapades that often provide a satirical commentary on human society. This charmingly volume is the first bilingual edition of the tale, featuring facing pages with an English translation by Thea Summerfield, making the undisputed masterpiece of medieval Dutch literature accessible to a wide international audience. Accompanying the critical text and parallel translation are an introduction, interpretative notes, an index of names, a complete glossary, and a short introduction to Middle Dutch. The mid thirteenth-century Dutch beast epic Van den vos Reynaerde is a fascinating reworking of the most popular branch of the Old French Roman de Renart and one of the finest examples of this popular genre, consisting of a lengthy cycle of animal tales which provided a satirical commentary on human society. Featuring the archetypal sly fox, the epic is also one of earliest examples of a longer literary work written in the Dutch vernacular. This charmingly illustrated edition contains the first-ever version of the Dutch text with a facing English translation, making the undisputed masterpiece of medieval Dutch literature accessible to international scholarly audiences otherwise unable to read the narrative in the original. The critical text and the parallel translation are accompanied by an introduction, interpretative notes, an index of names, a complete glossary, and a short introduction to Middle Dutch, making it an excellent choice for undergraduate or graduate study of medieval European literature. Het dertiende-eeuwse meesterwerk van de middeleeuwse Nederlandse letterkunde, Van den vos Reynaerde, wordt samen met een moderne parallelvertaling in dit boek uitgegeven. De hedendaagse vertaling, die in het Engels gesteld is om een zo groot mogelijk publiek te bereiken, volgt de middeleeuwse tekst op de voet. Een inleiding en literair-historische aantekeningen geven de lezer volop steun bij het begrijpen van het middeleeuwse werk. Het boek bevat tevens een glossarium op de volledige woordvoorraad en een beknopte introducleerling tie op het Middelnederlands. Deze uitgave is zeer geschikt voor gebruik in het hoger onderwijs An entertaining reworking of the most popular branch of the Old French tale of Reynard the Fox, the mid-thirteenth century Dutch epic __Van den vos Reynaerde__ is one of the earliest long literary works in the Dutch vernacular. Sly Reynaert and a cast of other comical woodland characters find themselves again and again caught up in escapades that often provide a satirical commentary on human society. This charmingly volume is the first bilingual edition of the tale, featuring facing pages with an English translation by Thea Summerfield, making the undisputed masterpiece of medieval Dutch literature accessible to a wide international audience. Accompanying the critical text and parallel translation are an introduction, interpretative notes, an index of names, a complete glossary, and a short introduction to Middle Dutch. The first-ever bilingual Dutch and English edition of Van den vos Reynaerde, the celebrated medieval Dutch beast epic featuring a crafty fox.