La Fontaine's Bawdy : Of Libertines, Louts, and Lechers : Translations from the Contes Et Nouvelles En Vers

Jean De La Fontaine ; Norman R. Shapiro

ISBN 10: 0691069565 / ISBN 13: 9780691069562

Published by Princeton University Press, 1992

About this Item

Binding has minor soil; free front endpaper has very faint, small bookstore stamp; tight, text clean. 273 p. [B2:3:5]. Seller Inventory # 005302

Bibliographic Details

Title: La Fontaine's Bawdy : Of Libertines, Louts, ...

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication Date: 1992

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: David Schorr

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

The Contes et nouvelles en vers of Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) were published at various times throughout his life, both before and after his celebrated Fables, between 1664 and 1685, and even posthumously. In quite a different key from the more innocent Fables, the Contes often threatened to get him in trouble with both Church and Acadmie. It was, indeed, the bawdy tales of Boccaccio, Rabelais, and other medieval and renaissance masters of ribaldry that inspired La Fontaine's Contes, presented here in a chronologically and stylistically diverse selection translated by Norman R. Shapiro. This spirited recent translation, spanning the entire corpus, offers about half the tales, from early to late, in all their variety of lengths and poetic narrative forms. The mildly suggestive mingle with the frankly bawdy, while others would hardly raise a vicar's eyebrow. Yet all these gems from one of France's truly great poets, scrupulously faithful to the originals, are rendered with the spirit of his style, his subtle rhythms, cadences, rhymes, and delectable wit left intact.

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French