Overview

An entertaining and wide-ranging romp through the cultural history of a peculiar bird. The common cuckoo is a peculiar bird one that has lent its name to the otherworldly 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' in Aristophanes' play The Birds, and lent its two-note song to the classic cuckoo clock. Even while the cuckoo has long symbolised exuberance or foolishness, at the same time, the bird is recognised as our most reliable harbinger of springtime. But that's not all the cuckoo stands for. Females of some cuckoo species are brood parasites, known for depositing their eggs in the nests of other birds. This curious behaviour that has inspired many a myth and metaphor, and given us the figure of the 'cuckold', who appears in literature from Shakespeare's plays to science-fiction thrillers. This enlightening, entertaining book explores the natural history of the cuckoo, its cultural meanings and the stories we tell about these fascinating birds.

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9781789149319

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Reviews

"""Taking in a range of stories from clockmaking to international travel and sexual shenanigans, this book contains all you ever wanted to know about cuckoos. Fascinating and accessible.""--Chris Gibson, retired conservation specialist for Natural England ""Timely, nutty, inspiring, subversive, maddening, secretive--that's the cuckoo in life and in lore. What would spring be without the cuckoo's call? Achingly silent. I'm grateful to Chris for her evocative study of this fascinating and charismatic bird.""--Elizabeth Bradfield, naturalist, author of ""Toward Antarctica"" and editor of ""Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry"""

""Taking in a range of stories from clockmaking to international travel and sexual shenanigans, this book contains all you ever wanted to know about cuckoos. Fascinating and accessible.""--Chris Gibson, retired conservation specialist for Natural England ""Timely, nutty, inspiring, subversive, maddening, secretive--that's the cuckoo in life and in lore. What would spring be without the cuckoo's call? Achingly silent. I'm grateful to Chris for her evocative study of this fascinating and charismatic bird.""--Elizabeth Bradfield, naturalist, author of ""Toward Antarctica"" and editor of ""Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry""

Author Information

Cynthia Chris is professor of media culture at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. She is the author of Watching Wildlife and The Indecent Screen: Regulating Television in The Twenty-First Century.

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