William T. Stead (1849–1912)

Published in 1896 by the London-based "Review of Reviews" Office - The Review of Reviews was a group of monthly journals founded by journalist William T. Stead - this slim pamphlet-style retelling of the Reynard story was the fifth entry in their "Books for the Bairns" series. It is presented in almost comic-book style, with the text in a left-hand column, and copious illustrations in the right-hand column. The story itself is abbreviated, but contains all the major incidents, and follows the fox through all of his misdeeds at the court of the lion king. Anything of a sexual or scatalogical nature that is to be found in the original is omitted, but the conclusion, in which Reynard triumphs despite (or because of) his treachery, is retained...

A difficult volume to track down, no doubt owing to its more ephemeral nature as a magazine-published paperback, rather than a "proper" cloth-bound book, The Adventures of Reynard the Fox is quite fascinating. The style is something different from many of the other titles I considered for my masters dissertation, which examined three centuries of retellings of the Reynard story for children, in the Anglophone world. I wish I could have tracked down more of this kind of matter. Leaving that aside, this presents an interesting take on the Reynard story, from a moral perspective, arguing that this sort of thing - the bad guy winning - is true to life. The editor writes, in his foreword, that "the good people are not always triumphant, nor are the bad ones always punished," going on to maintain that if the animals had not behaved with weakness and selfishness, if they had not given way to their vanity, then "it would never have been in Reynard's power to lead them such a dance." This interpretation is quite interesting, when one considers the identity of the editor. William T. Stead - who, in an interesting historical footnote, perished when the Titanic sank in 1912 - was a journalist who often used his platform to argue for social reform, and it is tempting to think that his more cynical stance here, his position that sometimes the bad guys win, is the product of that work, and of his knowledge of the world. It is certainly a realistic position, and I found myself wondering, as I read, whether this perspective might not also represent a difference of experience and culture between the social classes. This sort of magazine-published pamphlet strikes me as something aimed more at working and lower middle-class children, as opposed to the beautifully-bound hardcover volumes no doubt intended for their more wealthy counterparts. Given that this is so, the difference in outlook makes sense, as working class children would have been far better acquainted with the essential unfairness of the world, than their upper-class peers.

As mentioned, this is a difficult little volume to track down, although I would recommend it (is it can be found) to those readers interested in children's Reynard retellings, or in late Victorian children's literature aimed at working class children.… (meer)