FABLES CHOISIES - LA FONTAINE JEAN DE - Sodis

CONTES LIBERTINS - LA FONTAINE JEAN DE - Flammarion

La Fontaine's verse fables turned the traditional folktales derived from Aesop and a range of Oriental sources into some of the greatest, and best-loved, poetic works in French. His versions of stories such as The Hare and the Tortoise and The Wolf and the Lamb are witty and sophisticated, satirizing human nature in miniature dramas in which the outcome is always unpredictable. The behavior of both animals and humans is usually centered on deception and cooperation (or the lack of it), as they cheat and fight each other, arguing about life and death, property and food, in an astonishing variety of narrative styles. The fables have long been popular with all ages, though their ironic take on contemporary society in French aristocratic circles is best appreciated by adults.

This new translation by Christopher Betts matches the original in inventiveness and subtlety. It includes half of the fables first published in twelve books between 1668 and 1693, across the full range of subjects and themes. The fables are illustrated with a selection of Gustave Doré's majestic engravings, and an introduction offers insights into La Fontaine's life and literary artistry.

Il cofanetto contiene: "La gallina dalle uova d'oro", "Il topo di campagna e il topo di città", "Il leone e il topolino", Il corvo e l'aquila" e "La volpe e il gallo". Età di lettura: da 3 anni.

FABLES - LA FONTAINE JEAN DE - Flammarion

In this wonderful, vigorously contemporary translation, Craig Hill has captured the liveliness, satiric wit, and poetic beauty that made Jean de la Fontaine famous during his lifetime and his Fables celebrated as a masterwork of world literature ever since. Despite la Fontaine's deceptively modest claim that all he intended was to put the moral tales of Aesop and other ancient fabulists into poetry for the pleasure of Louis XIV's young son, his real accomplishment, as later generations have understood, was holding a mirror up to the society of his day and, in the process, fashioning a work that has become a classic.

Borrowing from a variety of sources, la Fontaine gave the hitherto mute animals in ancient fables the power of speech. Backstabbing politicians, brainless nincompoops, charlatans, clueless heads of state, egomaniacs, empty-headed celebrities, foolish investors, gluttons, liars, penny-pinchers, self-important blowhards, and wastrels-these are the targets of la Fontaine's pen. In this beautifully bound collector's edition, Craig Hill has given us a rare treat: both the irreverent spirit and the vivid poetry that have made la Fontaine's fables beloved through the ages, continuing to amuse and inspire centuries after they ?rst appeared in print.

FABLES DE LA FONTAINE - DE LA FONTAINE JEAN - Interforum

Una raccolta di quarantatre favole tra le più amate del celeberrimo scrittore francese, nella nuova brillante traduzione in versi di Maria Vidale. Spesso popolate da animali parlanti, le favole di La Fontaine sono ricche di riferimenti critici e ironici alla società del XVII secolo e sono caratterizzate da uno stile allo stesso tempo raffinato e semplice, che ha profondamente rinnovato il genere letterario della favola.

Il lupo e l'agnello? In blu e giallo. La volpe e l'uva? In bianco, verde e arancio. Il cavallo e l'asino? In lilla e rosso. Il topo e l'elefante? In tutte le sfumature dell'arcobaleno. Ovvero, gli animali di La Fontaine e i colori di Chagall. L'arguzia della penna e il tocco onirico del pennello. Raramente, nella storia della letteratura e dell'arte, si sono verificati connubi di tale portata creativa, e ancora più raro è che l'esito finale abbia preso la forma di un libro. Avviene ora, per la prima volta in edizione italiana, che alcune delle favole più popolari e amate di La Fontaine scorrano tra le pagine affianco ai dipinti che hanno ispirato. Tutto avvenne tra il 1926 e il 1927, quando il grande artista russo decise di dar vita a un ciclo di quadri dedicato alle storie del celebre maestro francese. L'intento era allestire una serie di mostre a cavallo dell'Europa: Berlino, Bruxelles e Parigi. Le tre mostre, che esposero complessivamente un centinaio di tavole, ebbero un immediato successo, tant'è che tutte le opere trovarono subito un acquirente diverso, e s'inabissarono nei meandri delle collezioni private, lungo le strade del mondo. Di quello straordinario incontro tra l'arte e le lettere si perse dunque memoria. Quando, sul finire degli anni quaranta, esplose la fama internazionale di Chagall, alcuni musei, in testa il MoMa di New York, allestirono le prime retrospettive a lui dedicate: quei «favolosi» animali, un po' alla volta, cominciarono a uscire dalla tana.

Though they were first written over 300 years ago, this is the first complete English translation of Jean de La Fontaine's comedic classic Contes et nouvelles en vers. Both sexually charged and wickedly funny, La Fontaine's Tales will surprise readers who know him only from his work on fables for children. Though the writing is more suggestive than vulgar, it still has the power to shock readers unprepared for the darkness that inhabits these poems. Included are nearly seventy illustrations dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, many of them rare, as well as extensive commentary by the editor.

Jean de La Fontaine's (1621-1695) animal fables depict sly foxes and scheming cats, vain birds and greedy wolves, all subtly expressing his insights into French society and the beasts found in all of us. This collection presents the fables in 12 sections, with b&w illustrations by David Schorr, professor of art at Weselyan University. An introduction by John Hollander (English, Yale University) discusses the place of La Fontaine's work in the Aesopian tradition and ancient Greek literature. Translator Norman R. Shapiro (Romance languages and literatures, Wesleyan University) has been translating La Fontaine's fables for 20 years. His translations are prepared from the French text of the Fables as presented by Ferdinand Gohin in the Association Guillaume Budé's two-volume edition, Oeuvres completès de La Fontaine (Paris: Société des Belles Lettres, 1934). Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Constantine and Koren Christofides and Carsten, all of the Institute for American Universities, have realized the dream of the French caricaturist Honoré Daumier to create new illustrations for the fables of Jean de la Fontaine. The illustrations in this volume, which were made by painters, printmakers, photographers, ceramists, sculptors, conceptual artists, fiber artists and art historians, create an intersection of contemporary art with the fabulist tradition. An additional pleasure is Constantine Christofides' introduction, which describes the volatile social context of 17th-century France as well as the literary tradition underlying La Fontaine's fables. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Second only to Aesop, Jean de la Fontaine was the author of comic and delightful fables that are as alive today as when they first appeared in the 18th century. Based on tales both famous and obscure by an array of classical writers, La Fontaine's fables offer vivid perspectives on such elemental subjects as greed and flattery, envy and avarice, love and friendship, old age and death. The 60 collected here–from “The Crow and the Fox” and “The Cock and the Pearl” to “The Grasshopper and the Ant” and “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse”–are illustrated with more than 100 charming drawings that capture La Fontaine's unforgettable cast of animal personalities.

Quanti sono i significati della storia di Psiche, la bellissima fanciulla sposa dell'invisibile dio dell'amore, che perde l'amato contravvenendo al divieto di guardarlo, e poi lo riconquista superando le prove di un viaggio che la porta fino al regno degli Inferi? Il percorso iniziatico attraverso il quale l'eroina passa dall'amore narcisistico all'amore puro e generoso può simboleggiare il cammino dell'anima per raggiungere l'amore perfetto. Ma la violazione del divieto significa anche la scoperta, da parte della donna, delle nudità dell'uomo, dunque della natura sessuale dell'amore. La Fontaine intreccia maliziosamente vari motivi ereditati da una lunga tradizione in un testo a più livelli, misto di prosa e versi.