Jean de la Fontaine: The Complete Fables

Title

en_US Jean de la Fontaine: The Complete Fables

en_US Four Square Classics

Description

en_US Language note: English

en_US Retold in English Verse within the Original Rhyme Scheme by Reginald Jarman

Creator

en_US No Author See all items with this value

Date

2016-01-25T16:50:28Z

en_US 2000-12

en_US 1962

Date Available

2016-01-25T16:50:28Z

Date Issued

en_US 1962

Abstract

en_US Here is a surprising find from a five-minute stop in a beloved old store. I would have thought that I would know by now of a twentieth-century verse translation of the complete fables of La Fontaine. A quick check on the first fable does not produce happy results, as Jarman switches tense and action in the crucial last lines. Thus the ant asks How about the Dog Days? and gets an answer that points to the future rather than the past: All who list'l/Hear me sing…. The ant's retort in Jarman's words is Now you can whistle! What happened to La Fontaine's clear reference to dancing? That, after all, is what cold and hungry people do with their feet while they are shivering. The other early fables do better, I think. The Two Mules (I 4) loses the important reference to the humble mule (comme moi in the French) in the last lines, as the humble mule is left here making a more general statement: Had you worked in a mill with the crowd/You wouldn't be feeling so glum! The lion in LS (I 6) may be misrepresented in his first claim. He takes the first himself, as fits a king…/'It must be mine,' he said, 'don't ask me why;/'The Lion is the name you know me by.' The don't ask notion, introduced here by the translator, may undercut the force of the fourth claim, which is an ungrounded threat of violence. I am happy to have another full translation of La Fontaine to consult.

Identifier

en_US 3734 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/79084

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US The New English Library Limited

en_US Holborn

Subject

en_US PQ1811.E3 J37 1962 See all items with this value

en_US Jean de La Fontaine See all items with this value

en_US Title Page Scanned See all items with this value

Type

en_US Book, Whole