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Product Description
Product Description
A reissue of a rare and remarkable book about every aspect of the life and legend of the wild hare - in nature, poetry, folklore, history and art. Much of it is drawn from the oral testimony of countrymen (including poachers) still living when the book was written.
'Here, from stubble to stewing pot, are all the facts that can be assembled; science, literature, mythology, superstition, semantics, venery, and a rich swathe of countryman's talk . . . This delightful book.' Observer
About the Author
Born in the mining town of Abercynon, South Wales, George Ewart Evans (1909-88) was a pioneering oral historian. In 1948 he settled with his family in Blaxhall, Suffolk, and through conversing with his neighbours he developed an interest in their dialect and the aspects of rural life which they described. Many were agricultural labourers, born before the turn of the century, who had worked on farms before the arrival of mechanisation. With the assistance of a tape recorder he collected oral evidence of the dialect, rural customs, traditions and folklore throughout East Anglia, and this work, reinforced by documental research, provided the background for his renowned East Anglian books.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hares are splendid animals that seem not to have attracted as much scientific enquiry as you would expect for such a visible animal. The same cannot be said for the amount of folk wisdom and lore that the hare has generated. Hares are witches which have undergone a shape change, they are symbols of bad luck, they are all male, but can still give birth, and yet they can also be a symbol of the sacred as well and so on and on.
Although the first chapters of this book, first published in 1972, are about the biology of the hare, the real meat of the book is about the mythological hare, the hare in the mind, rather than in the field - or at least how the hare was known prior to the industrial and agricultural revolutions.
This book builds a lucid case to explain the rich folk history of the hare, both as animal to be hunted and as a symbol of "other worldliness". In this way it is actually superior to the more modern Hare (Animal) which covers much the same ground, but without similar clarity.
Much of the content of the book has been drawn from interviews with (presumably) old "country-men", who must now be long dead and who may have been the last link to the British countryside of the horse and manual labour. Thankfully, the transcripts of these interviews have made no attempt to render their accents phonetically, which makes these section not only more accessible but probably less patronising than they would have been if the accents had be reproduced with non-standard spellings.
This is a really interesting book based on the sets of wisdom that were built around close observation and contact with hares and rural life in general. Many of the ideas and myths that are presented in the book no longer seem to make much sense, but this is not because the people who devised them were in anyway less intelligent than us, but because they had a different relationship with the environment. As a window into a lost view of the world this book is worth reading even if you are not really interested in hares!
But, if you at all interested in how our understanding of an animal can build over time I would recommend this book. If you are only interested in the modern scientific view of the hare, this may not be for you. But if that is the case, you will miss out on an interesting study of a neglected animal.
Recommended.
Although the first chapters of this book, first published in 1972, are about the biology of the hare, the real meat of the book is about the mythological hare, the hare in the mind, rather than in the field - or at least how the hare was known prior to the industrial and agricultural revolutions.
This book builds a lucid case to explain the rich folk history of the hare, both as animal to be hunted and as a symbol of "other worldliness". In this way it is actually superior to the more modern Hare (Animal) which covers much the same ground, but without similar clarity.
Much of the content of the book has been drawn from interviews with (presumably) old "country-men", who must now be long dead and who may have been the last link to the British countryside of the horse and manual labour. Thankfully, the transcripts of these interviews have made no attempt to render their accents phonetically, which makes these section not only more accessible but probably less patronising than they would have been if the accents had be reproduced with non-standard spellings.
This is a really interesting book based on the sets of wisdom that were built around close observation and contact with hares and rural life in general. Many of the ideas and myths that are presented in the book no longer seem to make much sense, but this is not because the people who devised them were in anyway less intelligent than us, but because they had a different relationship with the environment. As a window into a lost view of the world this book is worth reading even if you are not really interested in hares!
But, if you at all interested in how our understanding of an animal can build over time I would recommend this book. If you are only interested in the modern scientific view of the hare, this may not be for you. But if that is the case, you will miss out on an interesting study of a neglected animal.
Recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A book for those who are interested in the hare as a mythical as well as factual beast. This book covers the history and folklore surrounding the hare. Of course,the hare doesn't know this , it just lives in our fields and tries to avoid being killed by senseless hunters!! In times past the hare has been revered, feared , ridiculed and loathed as well as eaten! There are many myths associated with hares and this book covers most of them. For example, did you know that hares are always referred to as "she" regardless of gender?
Hares are now protected in the UK, so much the better when one considers the hell they have been put through in the last 200 years. A fascinating read which will give the reader a true appreciation of this beautiful creature.
Hares are now protected in the UK, so much the better when one considers the hell they have been put through in the last 200 years. A fascinating read which will give the reader a true appreciation of this beautiful creature.
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