Foxes in Popular Culture - Literature (in Chronological Order)

Literature (in Chronological Order)

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• 4 BC - Aesop's fables from classical times, featuring a fox most famously in The Fox and the Grapes.
• 110-113 - A Japanese legend:Byakko helped Yamatotakeru
• 800 - Shen Ji-ji, "Ren's Story"(任氏传) : Story of a love affair between Zheng and a were-fox named Ren.
• 921 - "Kuzunoha" :Abe no Seimei's mother is a kitsune (fox spirit) named Kuzunoha
• 1100 - The medieval story of Reynard, a classic anthropomorphic epic.
• 1532 - Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince : The successful prince must have the traits of both the lion and the fox.
• 1607 - Ben Jonson,"Volpone or The Foxe". Essentially a beast fable about a witty man who tricks potential successors to believe he is dying so that they bring him expensive gifts.
• 1668 - Jean de la Fontaine (1621–1695), the French fabulist, brilliantly refashioned Aesop's fables into poems, including some involving the fox such as:
  • The Fox and the Crow (French: Le Corbeau et le Renard)
  • The Fox and the Stork (French: Le Renard et la Cigogne)
  • The Fox and the Billy Goat (French: Le Renard et le Bouc)
  • The Fox and the Grapes (French: Le Renard et les Raisins)
• 1679 - Pu Songling, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, about encounters between humans and fox spirits.
• 1880-1905 - Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: Oral tradition including Brer Fox, from the American South.

• 1881-1883 - The Fox and the Cat (Italian: La Volpe e il Gatto) are a pair of fictional characters who appear in Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio. Both are con-men who lead Pinocchio astray and unsuccessfully attempt to murder him. They pretend to disabilities - the Fox to lameness and the Cat to blindness. The Fox is the more articulate, the Cat usually limiting itself to repeating the Fox' words.
• 1905? - Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, Or, Domino Reynard of Goldur Town: Realistic story with author's drawing, later made into a feature film.
• 1909 - L. Frank Baum, The Road to Oz: Fox king Dox of Foxville changes a boy's head into fox's.
• 1920 - Rudolf Těsnohlídek, Liška Bystrouška (Vixen Sharpears or The Cunning Little Vixen).
• 1922 - David Garnett, Lady into Fox is about transformation into animal, first physical then mental.
• 1932 - Niimi Nankichi,Gon, the Little Fox:The fox was misunderstood, and it was shot. The moral of result of revenge.
• 1938 - B.B., Wild Lone: The Story of a Pytchley Fox: A novel about a fox's life in Northamptonshire, the home of the Pytchley Hunt.
• 1943 - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince: A fox indicates the true value of friendship.
• 1957 - Ted Hughes, The Thought-Fox: A poem featured in Hughes's The Hawk in the Rain.
• 1960 - Vercors, Sylva, inspired by Garnett where a fox changes into a lady.
• 1965 - Robert Crumb, Fritz the Cat comics : Winston Schwartz, two animated films.
• 1965 - István Fekete Vuk, about life of abandoned fox and his revenge on a hunter. Also made into an animated film.
• 1967 - Daniel Pratt Mannix IV, The Fox and the Hound stars a fox named Tod as one of the two protagonists. Made into a Disney movie, with a recent sequel.
• 1977 - Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs has a protagonist named "The Tod" who helps out Snitter and Rowf along in their adventures.
• 1986–2011 - Brian Jacques, Redwall series: Fox characters include Fortunata, Sela, Chickenhound/Slagar, Urgan Nagru, Silvamord, Nightshade, Vizka Longtooth, and Rasconza. An animated television series based on three of the books was also produced.
• 1989 - Garry Kilworth, Hunter's Moon: The life and tragedies of a fox family which describes foxes' own mythology.
• 1989 - William Wharton (author), Franky Furbo: A magical fox rescues an American soldier and then journeys in search for proof of the unusual story.
• 1994 - Gillian Rubinstein, Foxspell, in which a fox's god propose that a young boy become a fox in favor to proper burial of dead fox's body.
• 1998 - Elizabeth Hand, Last Summer at Mars Hills: An Indian boy has magical amulet which allows him change into a fox.
• 2001 and 2003 - Mordicai Gerstein, Fox Eyes and Old Country, in which anyone can switch bodies with fox if he looks into their eyes long enough.
• 2002 - N. M. Browne, Hunted: A comatose girl wakes up in a fox's body in a fantasy world.
• 2005 - Victor Pelevin, The Sacred Book of Werewolf: The kitsune A-huli searches for a path to Nirvana for were-creatures.
• 2010 - Phillip Donnelly, Letters from the Ministry: A fox takes up a junior management position in the Council of Creatures and writes weekly letters to his cousin, Arctic Fox, analysing office politics and the rise of the wolves.