Book Description

This work is a compilation of a group of academics from diverse disciplines who have been working together to highlight the presence of the parrot in selected texts across the centuries. They demonstrate that fictional parrots invariably function as more than decoration, comedy, or badges denoting the eccentricity of their human owners, but as markers for subtle literary techniques. With the parrot as an interpretative tool, a range of narrative strategies and metaphorical meanings are employed and the authors argue that these strategies and meanings are embodied in the attributes of the speaking bird who figures significantly in each work.