COMPLETE POETRY AND PROSE - A Bilingual Edition [First American paperback edition - second impression]

A second impression of the first American paperback edition, with the numberlines 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 and 2 3 4 5 on the printer's page, indicating a 2008 published second impression. The book was simultaneously published in hardcover by University of Chicago Press. ***A near fine copy in illustrated glossy card covers. Covers clean and unmarked, with just very light edge wear. No creases or tears. No reading creases to the spine. Spine tight. Internally also near fine, with no inscriptions or annotations. Pages bright. No creases or tears. ***274 pages including Notes, Bibliography, Index of First Lines and Titles and General Index at the back of the book. 228mm x 153mm. ***'Louise Charlin Perrin Labé, (c. 1524 - 25 April 1566), also identified as La Belle Cordière (The Beautiful Ropemaker), was a feminist French poet of the Renaissance born in Lyon, the daughter of wealthy ropemaker Pierre Charly and his second wife, Etiennette Roybet. Her poetry consists of three elegies in the style of the Heroides of Ovid, and twenty-four sonnets that draw on the traditions of Neoplatonism and Petrarchism. The great theme of her sonnets are the longings, torments and satisfactions of a passionate love which, however noble, is very much of this world, with no metaphysical concepts evoked and no references to a more perfect world than this one.' [Wiki] ***'Thanks to her acclaimed volume of poetry and prose published in France in 1555, Louise Labé (1522-66) remains one of the most important and influential women writers of the Continental Renaissance, and her temperament and values continue to resonate with modern issues of female identity, writing, and gender relations. Best known for her exquisite collection of love sonnets, Labé's original use of conventional metaphor, her alternating focus on playfulness and pain, and her frank reflection on the positive force of desire and the full dimensions of physical love reveal her to be an accomplished sonneteer who played of the Petrarchan male tradition with wit and irony. Likewise, her elegies, alternately funny and heart-wrenching, show the depth and range of her lyric skill in response to classical predecessors such as Sappho and Ovid. Labé's more recently recovered prose works include a stunning letter advocating women's education and accession to the social and literary stage. The strongly feminist "Debate of Folly and Love" is a fascinating combination of medieval and Renaissance philosophical and theatrical genres that anticipates the ethos of female independence and self-hood in Labé's poetry. The very first bilingual edition of this singular and broad-ranging female author, "Complete Poetry and Prose" also features the first translations of Labé's sonnets to follow the rhyme patterns of the originals and the only rhymed translation of Labé's elegies in their entirety.' [Quote taken from the back cover] ***A second impression of this first American paperback edition in bright, near fine condition. A very nice copy of this uncommon work. Hard to find in the UK. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.…