Reinex-Lis. Johann Wolfgang Goethe

“Reine - Fox” (1794) - an epic poem, a brilliant turn of Goethe to the tradition of an animal epic that has developed back in the Middle Ages. In his poem, the author skillfully ridiculed feudal society. Under the masks of the animals, representatives of all classes are bred: large feudal lords in the images of a bear, a wolf, a badger and a small bipod - hares, chickens, roosters, blue. In the center of the poem is a cunning fox who always leaves his opponents in the fools. The arbitrariness of those in power, the corruption of the clergy, the venality of judges, the insatiable thirst for the profit of the “powers of this world” - these are specific signs of both the medieval and modern Goethe reality.

The publication is supplemented by the introductory article of the specialist in literature and art of Oksana Razumovskaya.