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Title
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en_US
Jean de la Fontaine: The Complete Fables
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en_US
Four Square Classics
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Description
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en_US
Language note: English
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en_US
Retold in English Verse within the Original Rhyme Scheme by Reginald Jarman
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Creator
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en_US
No Author
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Date
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2016-01-25T16:50:28Z
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en_US
2000-12
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en_US
1962
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Date Available
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2016-01-25T16:50:28Z
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Date Issued
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en_US
1962
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Abstract
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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.
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Identifier
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en_US
3734 (Access ID)
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Language
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en_US
eng
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Publisher
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en_US
The New English Library Limited
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en_US
Holborn
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Subject
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en_US
PQ1811.E3 J37 1962
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en_US
Jean de La Fontaine
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en_US
Title Page Scanned
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Type
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en_US
Book, Whole