Selected Fables of Jean de la Fontaine
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Reviews for Selected Fables of Jean de la Fontaine
26 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jean de la Fontaine is a must-read for anyone interested in folktales and fables throughout history.
The 17th-century poet took various tales from Aesop, Greek myth, and various other sources and set them to verse. Here, they appear in English translation. While the presentation of the stories and their social commentary is witty; I didn't find the 'poetry' of the language to be that engaging - the rhyme could be distracting, and the phrasing was often clunky. I don't know if this has to do with the original or the translation; I suspect a combination of both.
For French poems in translation; I tend to prefer a side-by-side presentation - even if one understands little of the original language, one can read to get an idea of the sound and rhythm of the original. However, I'm sure the originals are available freely online, for those motivated to look them up.
The selected fables presented here (apparently, the book includes about half of de la Fontaine's fabulist output) are prefaced by a very nice academic essay on the author, which really helps place the writing in context. There are also liberal endnotes mentioning the source (if known), and references found in each fable. I might've preferred if the notes relating to each story were found adjacent to the relevant section, but overall, this was fine.
A recommended volume.
I received a copy of this title through NetGalley. Thanks to NetGalley and Oxford University Press. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This review applies to the Viking edition of selected fables, translated by James Michie with an introduction by Geoffrey Grigson and the illustrations of J. J. Grandville (from an 1842 Paris edition). Grandville's illustrations may well be the best part of the book. La Fontaine's verse retellings of ancient fables (mostly of Aesop and Phaedrus) may lose something in the translation, but mostly didn't make for particularly pleasant reading: the verse comes through as somewhat stilted. Nonetheless, it was neat to see the versions of these stories that La Fontaine's contemporary readers would have known and learned.
Book preview
Selected Fables of Jean de la Fontaine - Alexander Calder
FABLES
THE TWO POUCHES
Let all the creatures gather round,
Once Jupiter declared,
"And stand before our mighty throne
To have their looks compared.
Don’t be afraid, he said,
if you
Believe that you were slighted
When you were made, let’s hear it now
And we will have it righted.
Now you’re a likely malcontent,
Sir monkey, have your say.
Look over all these animals
Are you as fine as they?"
Who me? Why not? I’ve got four feet,
The monkey answered smugly,
"A portrait of me, I am sure,
Would not be rated ugly!
But take a look at Brother Bear!
He hasn’t one true feature!
Now why should any artist want
To paint that fuzzy creature?"
T’ was thought the bear would make a claim
For a more gracious form,
But no! he boasted that his looks
Were well above the norm.
But he pronounced the elephant
A gross amorphous figure,
With ears that ought to be pared down,
And a tail that should be bigger.
The elephant’s remarks were not
Outstandingly sagacious
For he maligned poor Madame Whale
As being too capacious.
Dame Ant, a self-styled giantess,
Discredited the mite.
The parley ended, each convinced
That he alone was right.
*
T’is we that bear the palm of folly;
Lynx-eyed, we find the holes
In all pretensions but our own
To which we’re blind as moles.
The Lord makes men like pedlars, hung
With pouches fore and aft:
In front we air each others’ faults
And stuff our own abaft.
THE HARE AND THE BAN ON HORNS
The King of Beasts was gored one day
And suffered so much pain,
He swore that such mishaps should not
Occur again.
Forthwith all beasts that sported horns
From his domain were banished,
So goats, rams, bulls and cows and deer
All vanished.
During the exodus, a hare
Bethought him of his ears,
Their lengthy shadow woke in him
A host of fears.
Could not those ears appear like horns
To some official beagle?
Or might they not be equally
Illegal?
He went to see a cricket friend.
Neighbor,
he said, "Adieu!
The ban on horns will soon include
My long ears too.
Even," the quaking hare went on,
"If I should have them pared
As short as any ostrich’s,
I’d still be scared!"
The cricket snorted: "What, those horns!
You take me for a clod!
Those ears were plainly fastened there
By God."