Cynthia Chris

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...