La Fontaine's Bawdy: Of Libertines, Louts, and Lechers: Translations from the Contes Et Nouvelles En Vers (Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) [Hardcover]

Jean De La Fontaine (Author), Jean De La Fontaine (Author), Norman R. Shapiro (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation | Publication Date: November 1992

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Better known for his Fables , La Fontaine (1621-95) also caught his public's attention with a collection of verse tales, Contes et nouvelles en vers , written and published in a variety of groupings from 1664 to 1685 (with several appearing posthumously). Though his models were no small literary fries (Ariosto, Boccaccio, Rabelais), and though the poet's evocative skills sidestep erotic specificity and anatomical detail, the tales were deemed far too licentious: sales of the work became illegal as of 1674. Regrettably, only 32 tales (about half of the total corpus) have been selected for this translation, and no hint is given regarding the selection criteria. Nonetheless, La Fontaine's graceful and elegant versification, his wit in rhymes, and his wonderful tone and sense of timing are all present in Shapiro's translation, which is fun to read.
- Danielle Mihram, Univ. of Southern California Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691069565
• ISBN-13: 978-0691069562
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,669,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected delight, May 18, 2009

By 

Saul Rosenthal (San Antonio Tx) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: La Fontaine's Bawdy (Paperback)

I had always thought of La Fontaine in terms of his fables, more or less for kids, and had no idea that he had written a whole different body of work, his contes in verse, which are definitely for an adult audience. I found them "bawdy", as the title indicates, but not at all vulgar or off-putting to me as a reader.

Shapiro nicely places the original 16th century French on one side of the page and the English translation on the other. The translations are wonderful! They are fun to read and really amusing! He manages to capture the feel of the epoch in which they were written, even rhyming as La Fontaine rhymed, and avoiding giving too modern a feel to the English. All in all, the book is a pleasure.