Literature and Animal Studies

"Ortiz-Robles (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) offers a broad analysis of treatments of animals in literary sources ranging from early myths to present-day works in English and various European languages. Much of the volume is organized around family classifications of animals (e.g., equids, canids, felids), but the book also includes a general discussion of animals as tropes and a chapter on "revolutionary animals." The author provides brief but insightful analyses of selected examples-highlighted by an extended treatment of poems on songbirds, beginning with samples from standard Romantic poets (Clare, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley) but also ranging into work by modernist and contemporary writers. Part of Routledge's "Literature and Contemporary Thought" series, this book could serve as a foundational textbook for courses on animals in literature, especially since Ortiz-Robles includes a helpful glossary and suggestions for further reading. The discussion is informed by recent theory, but the writing is clear and accessible. A welcome and substantial contribution to both literary studies and animal studies."

- R. D. Morrison, Morehead State University

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Choice Review, March 2017.

"In this publication, Ortiz Robles ingeniously works his way through the working of literary form on our perception and makes a most compelling case against the myopic focus of some scholars on representation."

- Roman Bartosch, Universitätsverlag Winter