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Published by Interlink Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
“A welcome feast of fables for our times … Carlo Gébler’s book is a wonderful, gloomy and welcome addition to the Aesopic corpus … The stories have been re-written in a spiky, contemporary style … The content of these pessimistic stories is thought-provoking but what makes the collection absolutely delightful is the vigor and originality of Carlo Gébler’s writing. The illustrations by Gavin Weston are likewise magnificent.”
—The Irish Times
“This repackaging of [Aesop's] fables by Carlo Gebler and illsutrator Gavin Weston is a reminder that adult minds were originally the target of this litany of pocket-sized parables ... There is very much a feeling here of the ancient sound-tracking the alarmingly present.”
—Sunday Independent (Dublin)
“Scary new versions of ancient morality tales, Aesop's Fables, with stings in all their tails [...] are full of adult wisdom, human misfortune and bitter experiences, which, because they happen to other people, are hilarious.”
—Belfast Telegraph
THE GREATEST COLLECTION OF FABLES EVER WRITTEN, UPDATED FOR OUR TURBULENT TIMES A witty illustrated version of the world's greatest collection of fables, allegedly written by a slave in the 5th century BC. A book for our times: as Gebler notes, Aesop has two subjects—the exercise of power and the experience of the powerless who endure life and all that it inflicts on them. This retelling of the Fables makes them relevant and richly enjoyable. Large and fierce animals kill and butcher weaker creatures; gods play games with the hopes and fears of lesser species, including men and women; and occasionally the weak turn the tables on the strong, exposing their pretensions. This is a stunning new version of a book that was often bowdlerized and used to teach moral lessons to children. Gebler’s Aesop is darker and more realistic, and compulsively readable.
—The Irish Times
“This repackaging of [Aesop's] fables by Carlo Gebler and illsutrator Gavin Weston is a reminder that adult minds were originally the target of this litany of pocket-sized parables ... There is very much a feeling here of the ancient sound-tracking the alarmingly present.”
—Sunday Independent (Dublin)
“Scary new versions of ancient morality tales, Aesop's Fables, with stings in all their tails [...] are full of adult wisdom, human misfortune and bitter experiences, which, because they happen to other people, are hilarious.”
—Belfast Telegraph
THE GREATEST COLLECTION OF FABLES EVER WRITTEN, UPDATED FOR OUR TURBULENT TIMES A witty illustrated version of the world's greatest collection of fables, allegedly written by a slave in the 5th century BC. A book for our times: as Gebler notes, Aesop has two subjects—the exercise of power and the experience of the powerless who endure life and all that it inflicts on them. This retelling of the Fables makes them relevant and richly enjoyable. Large and fierce animals kill and butcher weaker creatures; gods play games with the hopes and fears of lesser species, including men and women; and occasionally the weak turn the tables on the strong, exposing their pretensions. This is a stunning new version of a book that was often bowdlerized and used to teach moral lessons to children. Gebler’s Aesop is darker and more realistic, and compulsively readable.
About The Illustrator
Gavin Weston was born in Belfast. He lives on the Ards Peninsula with an ancient dog and a cantankerous parrot. He is an artist, writer, teacher, and campaigner against child marriage, working with the charity, FORWARD. He is the author of the novel Harmattan and was a columnist for The Sunday Times for many years. Working as a writer-in-residence at HMP Magilligan, he met and became friends with Carlo Gébler and founded and edited the prison magazine Time In.
Product Details
- Publisher: Interlink Books (October 19, 2021)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9781623710866
Raves and Reviews
"A wonderful, gloomy and welcome addition to the Aesopic corpus. The stories have been re-written in a spiky, contemporary style... The content of these pessimistic stories is thought-provoking but what makes the collection absolutely delightful is the vigor and originality of Carlo Gébler's writing. The illustrations by Gavin Weston are likewise magnificent."
This repackaging of [Aesop's] fables by Carlo Gébler and illustrator Gavin Weston is a reminder that adult minds were originally the target of this litany of pocket-sized parables ... There is very much a feeling here of the ancient sound-tracking the alarmingly present. ??
Scary new versions of ancient morality tales, Aesop's Fables, with stings in all their tails [...] are full of adult wisdom, human misfortune and bitter experiences, which, because they happen to other people, are hilarious.
Intended for adult readers, this new compilation of these ancient fables from writer Gébler (The Wing Orderly's Tales) and illustrator Weston (Harmattan) is relentlessly dark and biting, with many tales revealing hard truths uncannily apposite to the inequalities of today's world. Retelling the fables in modern vernacular, Gébler organizes the 190 myths into chapters dealing with particular human foibles and frailties, concentrating on the imbalance between the powerful and the powerless, and the ways in which greed, selfishness, and pride harm both the innocent bystander and the guilty party. Perhaps the most affecting and relatable entries are those dealing with the random cruelty of fate, often represented by the malicious fancies of supernatural agents, and Gébler packs an emotional gut-punch into each spare, succinct paragraph including these points.?VERDICT?While there's little comfort to be found in these tales that ruthlessly dissect human nature, this anthology is not without its charms, especially as found in the whimsical illustrations and witty, honest prose.
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