MORAL TALES; Translated with an intrduction by William Jay Smith

LAFORGUE, Jules

ISBN 10: 0811209423 / ISBN 13: 9780811209427

Published by New Directions, 1985

About this Item

8vo, pp. 160. A fine copy in dj. Signed by William Jay Smith. Jules Laforgue (French: 16 August 1860 20 August 1887) was an Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet. Critics and commentators have also pointed to Impressionism as a direct influence and his poetry has been called "part-symbolist, part-impression. Influenced by Walt Whitman, Laforgue was one of the first French poets to write in free verse. Philosophically, he was an ardent disciple of Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann. His poetry would be one of the major influences on Ezra Pound and the young T. S. Eliot (cf. Prufrock and other observations.) Louis Untermeyer wrote,[2] "Prufrock, published in 1917, was immediately hailed as a new manner in English literature and belittled as an echo of Laforgue and the French symbolists to whom Eliot was indebted."- Wikipedia.

Seller Inventory # 51213

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MORAL TALES; Translated with an intrduction by William Jay Smith
• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811209423
• ISBN 13: 9780811209427
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed

About this title

Synopsis

Provides humorous parodies of the stories of Hamlet, Lohengrin, Salome, Perseus, and Pan, and includes information about the author's life and times

About the Author

Lyrical and scathingly pessimistic, Uruguay-born French poet Jules Laforgue offered an urgent tone of despair and fatalism, often rendered with playfully provocative and cynical humor. In 1918 Ezra Pound said of him, "He is an exquisite poet, a deliverer of nations...a father of light." Among the most innovative of poets in the French language and a pioneer in the use of free verse, Laforgue was an important influence on the young T. S. Eliot. Notable also for his early protests for the liberation of women, Laforgue died in Paris in 1887 aged just 27.

Author of more than fifty books of poetry, children's verse, literary criticism, translation, and memoirs, and editor of several influential anthologies, William Jay Smith served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (a position now called Poet Laureate) from 1968 to 1970. His memoir, Army Brat, was praised by Eudora Welty and Ralph Ellison, among many others, and his translations have won awards from the French Academy, the Swedish Academy, and the Hungarian government. Two of his thirteen collections of poetry were final contenders for the National Book Award. Professor Emeritus of English at Hollins University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he divides his time between Cummington, Massachusetts, and Paris.

William Jay Smith (1918-2015) served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (a position now called Poet Laureate) from 1968 to 1970 and was twice a finalist for the National Book Award. He lived in Cummington, Massachusetts and Paris.