Publisher's Synopsis
This study explores different kinds of animal fiction written in English literature. Taking Darwin's "The Origin of Species" as a significant point of departure, it discusses such key authors as Hardy, Lawrence, Kipling, Wells, Orwell, and others, arguing that the variety and richness of this literature represents a revival in the fortunes of bestiary literature. In the Middle Ages, much animal literature was written and its burden was instruction of a moral kind. This study shows that modern British writers have turned to the world of animal nature, realistically, figuratively or fantastically, to find an alternative orientation to the world - a more satisfactory view of man's place in nature. The modern bestiarists represent a wide variety of fictional technique and an equally extensive range of thematic interest. Nonetheless, there is a consistency in the common idea that animals may effectively represent an objectified version of human life and so serve an educational function.
