In a comment on my last post, Bill contrasts the title character in Library Lion with the two "lazy lions lounging in the local library" in Animalia:
There are two important distinctions between this Lion and the two Lions in the Animalia illustration. First, it is a single Lion instead of two. Second, this Lion is a very active Lion (being reminded not to run), while the other two Library Lions are specifically called out as Lazy, and shown to be so in the picture - definitely not having interest in running, as in addition to lazy they are also specifically 'lounging' Lions - pretty much the opposite of running.
For these reasons, and others in my mind, if I had to bet I would say this Lion is a different one symbolically than the other two, though I personally think you are right that the Lassie book connects them.
In fact, as I look at and think about that picture with the two Lions, I imagine that those Lions really shouldn't be there. They don't belong there, based on how they are treating the place, but were permitted in for various reasons. A phrase Leo shared would suggest that Jesus himself permitted this to happen.
In fact, Library Lion includes both the single active lion of the title and a pair of entirely stationary ("lazy") lions. The latter lions don't go inside the library ("They don't belong there") but stand guard outside it. They do not appear in the story itself but can be seen, together with the active lion, on the title page:
I wouldn't really have noticed these two illustrations if not for Bill's comment, but now that I have done so, it is interesting to compare the two. In each picture, one of the stone lions has a pigeon flying just above it, while the other has a pigeon sitting on its right ear, with its head down as if whispering a message to the lion. The position of these lions and pigeons is exactly the same in each picture, as if each is capturing the same moment in time. The main difference, though, is the central figure. On the title page, it is a live lion preparing to go through the Green Door and into the library. At the end of the book, it is a third pigeon. If, as the background suggests, these are two pictures of the same moment, that implies that the the lion and the pigeon are two different representations of the same central figure.
The juxtaposition of lions and pigeons made me think of Walter Crane's picture The Wilderness Shall Blossom as the Rose, which also features these two animals:
The inscription on the banner is a condensed version of Isaiah 35:1 -- "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." The inclusion of a lion in Crane's painting is curious, since Isaiah makes a point of saying that this animal will not be found in the blossoming wilderness:
No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there (Isa. 35:9).
Why then does Crane so prominently depict a lion? Well, Isaiah's language implies that the wilderness did harbor lions prior to its blossoming, so the only interpretation that makes sense to me is that the lion walking behind the dove has the same meaning as the monkey walking behind the caveman in Rudolph Zallinger's iconinc March of Progress illustration: the transformation of the one into the other.
As the hostile desert blossoms and becomes a hospitable land, the lion that formerly stalked it transforms into a harmless dove. The same transformation appears to have taken place between the beginning and the end of Library Lion.
By the way, I have quoted Isaiah 35 here before -- in another Animalia-inspired post, "Pushed to Zion with songs of everlasting joy."
Note added: Library Lion also includes a winged lion. This is the emblem of St. Mark, which, in "Doge of Venice," brought the library lions back into the sync stream.
1 comment:
Being turned into stone can be associated with a curse. Lots of stories, myths, etc., have petrification as the result of some power that an evil Being holds. Medusa, for example, turned anyone to stone who gazed at her.
Another interesting example of petrification and an evil Being, however, is found in Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". The White Witch is a sorcerer who has the power to turn the inhabitants of Narnia to stone. Only the Breath of the lion Aslan is able to undo the curse.
Your post after this one showing the woman dressed in white along with the 3 Lions may mean there is something to that connection, so I will continue this comment over there...
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