Codex Urbanus - Suffering Fables

Born in 1621, Jean de la Fontaine made himself immortal by writing his Fables Choisies, inspired by Aesop or Phèdre, whose animal adventures and well-felt formulas still delight young and old alike.

Born in a much more recent era, Codex Urbanus has been tracing for years, without authorisation, a bestiary of chimeras on the walls of cities. Fascinated by the animal world, he naturally wanted to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of his illustrious predecessor, by imagining a series of new fables featuring his chimeras, and which, like Fables Choisies, tell us about us and our time.

However, because they are created and not chosen, and above all because they impose themselves on passers-by since they were stuck in the street every week throughout the anniversary year of Jean de la Fontaine, these new fables are therefore gathered here under the name of "Fables Subies", as a contemporary response to the work of La Fontaine.

Enter the unique and fantastic world of Codex Urbanus which, through its drawings and texts, offers an offbeat, wild and creative tribute to speak to us, above all, about us...

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“From his time, La Fontaine left us his fables pastiche of the mores and customs of a society whose king took himself for a sun, nowadays Codex UrbanusCodex Urbanus recalls by its phantasmagoric verve the realities of the world that is ours. Undoubtedly Fables Subies will be the school book that future generations will recite on Vega, Procyon or Arcturus…”. The editor.

French