The Book of the Dun Cow

by Walter Wangerin

Paperback, 1979

Status

Available

Call number

823

Collection

Publication

Pocket (1979), Edition: 1st THUS, Paperback, 241 pages

Description

Good struggles with Evil as Chauntecleer the rooster fights against the mysterious Wyrm.

Media reviews

Read it for fun, and imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking these lines, à la his Conan the Barbarian days.

User reviews

LibraryThing member lostinalibrary
In this moving fable of Good versus Evil by author Walter Wangerin, it is a time when the sun still revolves around the earth and animals can talk. Lord Chauntecleer, a rooster, presides over his coop and all the animals around including Mundo Cani, a rather depressed dog and John Wesley Weasel. Do
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not, however, mistake them for the cute and cuddly talking creatures which populate Disney stories. Wangerin's animals have more in common with the animals found in Aesop's Fables and Medieval Bestiaries than those found in the Magic kingdom. They are noble, brave, and kind but they are also prideful, selfish, and silly and God has placed them on this earth for a purpose. Without knowing it, they are the keepers of Wyrm, the most evil creature in all creation, damned by God to reside at the centre of the earth - sum wyrm, sub terra - and he has been trying since before time to break free. Now, with the unwitting aid of Senex, the old and foolish ruler of another coop, Wyrm has found his opportunity to leave his hell and bring sorrow and chaos to the universe. It is up to the animals of Chauntecleer's coop, this Kingdom of the Meek, to defeat him and his minions, with little but their faith to sustain them.

First published in 1978, The Book of the Dun Cow won the National Book Award for Science Fiction. Loosely based on The Nun's Priest's Tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with a title taken from the oldest extant Celtic manuscript, Book of the Dun Cow (c. 1100), it has been compared to books such as Animal Farm, Watership Down, and CS Lewis' Narnia series.

There are very strong religious overtones to the story, not surprising since Wangerin was a Lutheran minister. Still, this does not overshadow the story; rather, with its rich use of symbolism, it enhances it. The writing style has a simple elegance rarely found in modern books which, combined with the strength of its Christian themes, may put off many readers. And that would be a shame. It is the kind of book that requires a bit of thought beyond the usual willing suspension of disbelief to be fully appreciated. But, like the books it has been compared to, it s well worth the effort.
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LibraryThing member yoyo1198
This is a marvelous book. The ultimate good vs evil but in the barnyard. I read this at least once a year. And it's not just for kids. I'm well into my 60's and learn something new every time I read it.

The author lives less than 10 miles from me and I have always wanted to just drop in on him and
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tell him how beautiful his book is. Never got around to it.
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LibraryThing member BooksOn23rd
I had never before heard of THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW, by Walter Wangerin Jr., until a local book group chose it for their next read. This is good, in a way, because I had no expectations. A National Book Award winner in 1980, the story completely involves animals that talk and not a human being in
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sight.
Chauntecleer the Rooster rules a peaceful yard. While hens produce eggs, John Wesley Weasel gets accused of eating them, Ebenezer Rat is attacked, and Mundo Cani the Dog, Wee Widow Mouse and Pertelote the Hen come into the yard.
THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW reads as a fable, with good fighting against evil. Although Wangerin claims it is not allegorical, one can’t help but want to pick it apart. There are lots of references to “light” and “dark”. I’m not sure I want to analyze it, because the reading of it is such a grand experience.
This book is fabulous; the characters so well written that you feel like you know them. I think anyone would enjoy THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW. It is now one of my all-time favorite books!
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LibraryThing member fingerpost
A truly unique book. The Book of the Dun Cow is a religious allegorical fable about Chaunticleer the rooster, who has been assigned my God the duty of protecting the Earth from Wyrm, a great evil which is trapped within the Earth. But Wyrm has found a way out, and Chaunticleer, along his fellow
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animals must wage a great war to keep the evil contained.
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LibraryThing member dbsovereign
A gigantic fable about power and corruption. Somewhat Biblical in tone, it is also a book about hanging in there in the face of utter terror.
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
The blurb from the Los Angeles Times says Belongs on the shelf with Animal Farm, Watership Down, and The Lord of the Rings." ?It does not say you'll be as moved by it as you were by those. ?áI agree on both counts. ?áI thought this a brilliant and exciting fable. ?áMuch was a little
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obvious, some was a little metaphysical. ?áGod is mentioned by name, but really any Higher Power would serve as details don't seem to be present, or, if they are, they're in the symbolism, which is easy for an atheist like me to overlook (just as I do when I read Narnia).

No, this won't serve every reader. ?áBut everyone over the age of nine or so who likes animal fantasy should consider reading it. ?áSome, like me, will want to reread it. ?á

One thing that I never noticed in descriptions or other reviews was mention of the humor. ?áIt's wonderful: some is more subtle, some more cruel, and some is just slapstick. ?áFor?áan?áexample of the easier sort, some of the turkeys, we learn, are named Corningware, Paprika, and Basil.

There are also beautiful bits. ?áA wedding is held in the winter, and for gifts, the other animals tramp down words and pictures (a la' corn mazes). ?áHow apt, for animals, who don't have possessions....

An under-appreciated book. ?áLook for it. ?áMeanwhile, I will look for others by the author."
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LibraryThing member taterzngravy
Though this book is not meant for young children, it is a wonderful book to read aloud if that is something that you enjoy to do with your family. The book has a marvelous mix of pathos and humor.
LibraryThing member noneofthis
Crap. I read this when I was eleven or thereabouts, and I distinctly recall having to force myself to finish it. I found the plot to be murky and confusing, largely because it was full up of great chunks of 'stuff happen and it was bad,' 'other stuff happened and it was BAD,' 'finally more stuff
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happened and all was inexplicably okay' with little narrative connection between them.

I supposed I could reread it and see if I can find a better sense of linearity from an adult point-of-view, but this book had left me with a such a feeling of dislike that I have no interest in giving it another try.
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LibraryThing member samlives2
Upon first starting this book, I found it vague and found the lack of full background and knowledge of the world around somewhat obnoxious, but that's what comes with reading series of twelve books or more for most of your life. Once I got into this book, I very much enjoyed it, but didn't get much
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out of it until the very end, which was quite touching. The sheer simplicity of it somewhat shocked me when I finally got around to understanding it: Good vs. Evil. I was once disappointed at the "dumbness" of the story, but I know now it could never work any other way.
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LibraryThing member Bookish59
While I love the characters the plot and story, I can't place this on the same level as Watership Down, or the Hobbit. Maybe because I read those books when I was a child, and now I am over 50. Have I lost my imagination, or is it simply harder to impress my imagination?

Chauntecleer, the rooster,
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was the leader of a coop of hens, and many local animals. Often gruff, he cared and loved his coop, and worried about the encroaching threat. But he didn't know what he needed to do until after he rescued and married Pertelote. She knew what was coming and helped him prepare.
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LibraryThing member chriskrycho
This is probably my favorite fiction discovery of the last five years.
LibraryThing member MyopicBookworm
A bizarre book: nursery story meets Hieronymus Bosch. I can tell that it is about the struggle of Good versus Evil, but I was frustrated by the sense that other aspects of the allegorical symbolism were eluding me. A group of farmyard characters have escaped from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales into an
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allegorical plot resembling that of some half-forgotten work of John Bunyan or William Blake. Apart from the aforementioned classics of English literature, the only books that came to mind as I read it were Russell Hoban's The Mouse and his Child and George Orwell's Animal Farm, with their anthropomorphized animal characters and recurrent sense of oppression and sorrow. The main figure of Chaunticleer veers oddly between pompous patriarch, solicitous priest, and sacred warrior-king, and some of his exchanges with his beloved hen Pertelote are the most moving and modern, the least allegorical and animal-like, of all the book's threads. Otherwise, there's a lot of death and destruction, mourning and misunderstanding, betrayal and sacrifice.

MB 26-iv-2013
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LibraryThing member ramrak
Wonderful!
LibraryThing member electrascaife
Animal Farm, but make it high fantasy and take away the charm. Yeah, I didn't like it.

Language

Original publication date

1978

Physical description

241 p.; 6.9 inches

ISBN

0140054588 / 9780140054583
Page: 1.5972 seconds