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"Shapiro's skills, and certainly his prolific output, as a translator of French poetry are unsurpassed in our time." St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Norman Shapiro is a wonderfully lively and resourceful translator, who knows how to put French wit and charm into English." Richard Wilbur, former Poet Laureate of the United States
Product Description
Inspired new translations of the work of one of the world's greatest fabulists
Told in an elegant style, Jean de la Fontaine's (1621-95) charming animal fables depict sly foxes and scheming cats, vain birds and greedy wolves, all of which subtly express his penetrating insights into French society and the beasts found in all of us. Norman R. Shapiro has been translating La Fontaine's fables for over twenty years, capturing the original work's lively mix of plain and archaic language. This newly complete translation is destined to set the English standard for this work.
Awarded the Lewis Galantiere Prize by the American Translators Association, 2008.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
That Jean de La Fontaine problematized the fable genre is now well known, thanks to American, British, and German criticism of the late 20th century. Even the French have reluctantly admitted this and dropped the Fables from the baccalaureat program, which privileges what Roland Barthes called the "readable" text, free of ambiguity, unstable irony, allusive metaphor, and aggressive (but usually covert) dialogue with earlier literature. Basing their projects on critical editions and schoolbooks composed under the old dispensation, previous Anglo-American translators of the Fables have perpetuated the image of La Fontaine as the Gallic Aesop, more intricately melodic and stylistically adroit, to be sure, but ultimately slick, straightforward, and commonsensical. Only Marianne Moore - in a self-indulgent and finally useless caprice - wandered away from that dubious model, making the French poems over in the quirky image of her own, often zoological masterpieces. Comes now Norman Shapiro, whose La Fontaine not only coincides with current understanding of the original but also also succeeds as poetry in English: subtly nuanced, dense, resonant, and compellingly rereadable. More than a prize, this rendering deserves a place with Terence Cave's The Princesse of Cleves, John Cairncross's Phaedra, and Richard Wilbur's Misanthrope in the classical canon "made new" for Frenchless readers of our time and place.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely Fabulous
13 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback
That Jean de La Fontaine problematized the fable genre is now well known, thanks to American, British, and German criticism of the late 20th century. Even the French have reluctantly admitted this and dropped the Fables from the baccalaureat program, which privileges what Roland Barthes called the "readable" text, free of ambiguity, unstable irony, allusive metaphor, and aggressive (but usually covert) dialogue with earlier literature. Basing their projects on critical editions and schoolbooks composed under the old dispensation, previous Anglo-American translators of the Fables have perpetuated the image of La Fontaine as the Gallic Aesop, more intricately melodic and stylistically adroit, to be sure, but ultimately slick, straightforward, and commonsensical. Only Marianne Moore - in a self-indulgent and finally useless caprice - wandered away from that dubious model, making the French poems over in the quirky image of her own, often zoological masterpieces. Comes now Norman Shapiro, whose La Fontaine not only coincides with current understanding of the original but also also succeeds as poetry in English: subtly nuanced, dense, resonant, and compellingly rereadable. More than a prize, this rendering deserves a place with Terence Cave's The Princesse of Cleves, John Cairncross's Phaedra, and Richard Wilbur's Misanthrope in the classical canon "made new" for Frenchless readers of our time and place.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Literary genres
10 Sep 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is very well done. I needed a copy of these fables for a comparative literature class for senior citizens, as my copy is in French. We shall be discussing fables, tall tales, Green myths, fairy tales, etc. I already have a copy of Aesop's Fables.
I also needed these poems to coordinate with some Disney and Looney Tunes versions of the written fables.
Should be fun. Some of these students are much older than I am. Quite a different population from my Jr High, High School and Community College populations.
I want to encourage this class to write their own fables, etc for a small publication after the class is over.
I also needed these poems to coordinate with some Disney and Looney Tunes versions of the written fables.
Should be fun. Some of these students are much older than I am. Quite a different population from my Jr High, High School and Community College populations.
I want to encourage this class to write their own fables, etc for a small publication after the class is over.
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