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Book reviews for "La_Fontaine,_Jean_de" sorted by average review score:

Once Again, La Fontaine: 60 More Fables (Wesleyan Poetry with Audio CD)
Published in Paperback by University Press of New England (2001)
Authors: Jean De LA Fontaine, David Schorr, John (Frw) Hollander, and Norman R. Shapiro
Amazon base price: $13.97
List price: $19.95 (that's 30% off!)
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Wonderful Stuff!
If you enjoy French literature in translation, you should already be familiar with the name of Norman Shapiro--one of our pre-eminent French-to-English translators. Quite simply, whatever Mr. Shapiro chooses to translate results in a highly enjoyable, entertaining addition to my French lit. bookshelf! If you find pleasure in Richard Wilbur's Moliere, Donald Frame's Montaigne and Rabelais, Richard Howard's Stendhal and Baudelaire, Burton Raffel's Chretien, or Merwin's Song of Roland--then you owe it to yourself to investigate Shapiro's La Fontaine translations--four volumes to date: "Fifty Fables" and "Fifty More Fables" published by Illinois, "La Fontaine's Bawdy" published by Princeton, and the present book, "Once Again, La Fontaine" published by Wesleyan. These books are--alas!--one of the best-kept secrets of High French Literature to Read for Pleasure.

Also, Shapiro has translated volumes of Verlaine and Baudelaire for the University of Chicago press (two very handsome paperback editions), and do be on the lookout for his edition of Ronsard/Marot/Bellay from Yale University Press!

The annotation left off the best part!
The publisher's annotation fails to mention *anywhere* that the CD included with the disc features 26 fables read by actor Douglas Sills, of Broadway's The Scarlet Pimpernel fame. He does a delightful job of interpreting various characters.


Fifty Fables of LA Fontaine
Published in Paperback by Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) (1997)
Authors: Jean De LA Fontaine, Alan James Robinson, and Norman R. Shapiro
Amazon base price: $17.47
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The Best La Fontaine in English, Period!
Norman Shapiro's four volumes of La Fontaine translations are better than we have the right to expect in English translation--what more can be said?

If you enjoy "Fifty Fables"--and you will--do investigate "Fifty More Fables," "Once Again, La Fontaine," and "La Fontaine's Bawdy"--each volume is full of perfect gems.


Fifty More Fables of LA Fontaine
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Illinois Pr (Txt) (1998)
Authors: Jean De LA Fontaine, Norman R. Shapiro, and David Schorr
Amazon base price: $45.00
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en francais?
La Fontaine's fables look good. Where do I get more of La Fontaine's fables in French? (en francais?) greggtho@yahoo.com

Shapiro's translations are classics in their own right.
Shapiro's verse translations are incredible. The same person who has just done the most faithful and most poetic rendering of Baudelaire has no less flawlessly met the very different demands of La Fontaine, with all the latter's elegance (and, when called for, inelegance) of tone, stylistic devices, phlosophical depth, and playful humor. His translations lose nothing of the originals. One even feels that the spirit and voice of La Fontaine are speaking here. A truly remarkable achievement. Bravo!

An amazing job of translation, a model for translators
It is not clear to me whether Shapiro is more poet, translator or scholar, but he is certainly all three. The range of his colorful lexicon, the beat of his hexameters and pentameters strike me as nothing short of phenomenal, making of him the most worthy of translators of La Fontaine.


Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century (Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe)
Published in Paperback by Continuum International Publishing Group (1999)
Authors: Willem De Blecourt, Ronald Hutton, Jean La Fontaine, Bengt Ankarloo, and Stuart Clark
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Number six of six....
WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN EUROPE - THE TWENTIETH CENTURY is number six in a series of six volumes covering the history of magic and witchcraft in Europe from ancient to modern times. Most of these volumes have included first rate scholarship. The fourth (and last) volume in the series, entitled, "The Period of the Witch Trials," will be published later this year.

Series authors have attempted to define witchcraft and magic for each of the covered periods. The major impression one receives on reading these books is that the concepts or witchcraft and magic as well as the operational definitions are many and varied. As Willem de Blecourt of the Huizinga Institute in the Netherlands notes in his section in this volume, "Local witchcraft discourses are accentuated and even defined by the locally current value systems." Blecourt's article is by far the best of the three in the book.

The first two sections of this book deal with witchcraft (Ronald Hutton, Bristol University) and Satanism (Jean la Fontaine, London School of Economics) as practiced in the 20th Century according to "modern" practitioners. These two sections are really more news article than scholarly essay. Each author has assembled material widely available to the public in autobiographical and biographical form, and to a certain extent "participated" in and "observed" some of the practices discussed. Both authors make it clear that Wicca (the Anglo-Saxon variant) and Satanism have nothing to do with each other. Wicca, or witchcraft as some practitioners prefer to call it, is considered by it's adherents to predate Christianity by several million years. Satanism, on the other hand, is based on the Hebrew word that means "the opposed" and requires historical references to Christianity that Wiccans eschew. The members of these two very different groups apparently loath each other. Many of the Wiccans are feminists while many of the Satanists have connections to neo-Nazis. The rationale for Wiccans is love the Earth, while that of the Satanists appears to be tear it up. Apparently, overly zealous and poorly educated Christians confuse the two. The Wiccans have been invited by the Archbishop to Canterbury Cathedral, the Satanists have not.

My favorite essay is the last, Blecourt's piece on witchcraft in Europe from the anthropologist's perspective. Most of his material comes from France, Spain, and the Netherlands. He includes material on Frisian witches, the work of Pitt-Rivers (an institute at Oxford University is named for him) who became famous for his studies of witchcraft in Andalusia, and Favret-Saada who studied witchcraft in the Bocage in France. Blecourt suggests anthropologists are faced with a perplexing situation in the attempt to study witchcraft-who to adopt as an informer. The person who informs you shapes your experience. The witch, the bewitched, and the unwitcher form a triangle with three perspectives. In the end, each will have a different tale, but you won't be able to get all three of them to confide in you. Blecourt suggests all the ethnographer can do is see witchcraft from a liminal perspective-i.e. barely at all or at the edge of perception.

Objective Study
This book is one in an excellent continuing series of "Witchcraft and Magic in Europe". This entry in the series concerns the history and practice of European witchcraft and magic in the 20th century,(and the book is focused on Europe and particularly Britain. There is only scant information on witchcraft and magic in North America). This is a refreshing objective study which approaches the subject from a sociological/anthropological approach; it is not intended as an apologia for witchcraft or neo-paganism, nor is it intended as a deconstruction of the topics. Also refreshing is that the writers spend little time "psychoanalyzing" and "rationalizing". What you get here is factual, fairly objective reporting. The book is divided in three sections: I.Modern Pagan Witchcraft-it's cultural and spiritual antecedents and history. Especially important here is the treatment of Margaret Murray, Gerald Gardner and Crowley. Also fascinating is the information provided on how the "paganism" of the Romantic Movement provided impetus for the later development of full blown "pagan revival" religions. (Also, as an enticement for you...did you know that Wicca and the Boy Scouts have a common ancestor! ) For readers hungry for historical facts on the "new" religions of Wicca and NeoPaganism, this section of the book provides valuable information. The author of this section, Ronald Hutton of the University of Bristol, seems confident that Wiccans and NeoPagans are ready for this kind of objective exegesis. I'm not so sure... II.Satanism and Satanic Mythology-written by Jean La Fontaine of the London School of Economics; level-headed and factual. La Fontaine details the brief history of this small and very recent religious movement and also debunks much of the satanic abuse hysteria whipped up by some conservative Christian groups, there just ain't no "there" there when it comes to these charges. As in the Pagan Witchcraft section, La Fontaine does not bore us with trite psychoanalysis, but just good reporting. Important here is the objective study La Fontaine gives to The Church of Set as opposed to La Vey Satanism; heretofore most studies of these two movements have taken "sides" in the oft-times bitter feuding between the two. My only objection to this section is the lumping of Asatru/Odinism and Northern European Heathenism in this section instead of either in a section of it's own or as a corollary section to Pagan Witchcraft. While some, if not most, of Northern European Heathenism does contain some of the same religio-political concerns as some satanic groups, it is also strikingly dis-similar and deserves to be studied in its own right rather as a "cousin" of satanism. III.The Continued Existence of Traditional Witchcraft...maybe. This section, actually an overview of the cultural anthropology of witch folklore and "bewitchment", demonstrates how difficult it is to really form a cohesive argument that if organized witchcraft existed at all in the past, there is very little evidence for it. All we have is a bewildering host of healing traditions, "hexes" and remedies against hexes, and whether this is evidence of the survival of witchcraft, shamanism or simply folk-ways, is hard to say. The authors are remarkably open to the possibility of real withcraft traditions that pre-date Wicca, but demonstrate the lack of evidence for it. For students of Mysticism, religious arcana and the Occult, this volume provides a wealth of information about this fascinating, and curious, part of the Western Esoteric Tradition.


The Fables of LA Fontaine.
Published in Paperback by Viking Press (1964)
Author: Jean De, LA Fontaine
Amazon base price: $1.65
Average review score:

La Fontaine would be proud!
What a pleasant book. If you are interested to own a book of La Fontaine's Fables with a little extra, don't hesitate and go buy this book! The book itself is beautiful: it comes in a box and the colours are vivid (excellent quality of printing). You will be surprised at every page: the fables are all written in various styles (for example, the lines will be "bouncing" if the fable is about a rabbit, etc.). The paintings are all very colorful and will make you smile for sure. The only thing that is quite sad is that only 43 of the 100 lithographs illustrating the Fables have apparently been found and printed in that book. But despite that comment, it is worth the buy just the same. A beautiful and original gift for anyone who loves animals, litterature and art!


The Hare and the Tortoise
Published in Library Binding by Bt Bound (1901)
Authors: Brian Wildsmith and Jean de La Fontaine
Amazon base price: $17.25
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The Tortoise and the Hare
The book The Tortoise and the Hare is a great book for children to read. Most books for children this age are non colorful and are not that illustrated. This book has bright, colorful pages, and i enjoyed reading it alot. I would recomend this book for preschool and older just because the words are small and some are hard to pronounce. The Tortoise and the Hare tells that you can never judge someone by what they look like or haow slow they are. The tortoise one because he was confident in what he was doing, he was determined to win the race and he did. The hare was upset but he fell asleep. that was his fault. He learned his lesson.


The Rich Man and the Shoe-Maker: A Fable
Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press (1980)
Authors: Jean De LA Fontaine, Jean De Lafontaine, and Brian Wildsmith
Amazon base price: $11.95
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Rich man and the shoe-maker
Although the reader does feel something has been lost in a retelling of the story, the message can still be seen clearly. A very simple tale, which can easily be read by first graders, has the moral of taking pride in yourself and being happy with who you are. When the poor shoe-maker is given a bag of gold, he loses his friends and his happiness. He realizes money and wealth did not make him content. The coverflaps have a lot of praise for the illustrator. He has an interesting style, but his artwork does not grab the attention of the reader and can be overly busy and erratic. It is a shame the artwork brings down this otherwise excellent fable that should be read to all children in our overly competitive capitalist society.

Why 4 stars?:
This is a nice fable, with a wonderful message about greed and capitalism. Unfortunately, its illustrations are attempting an abstract style that they just don't quite pull off.


Selected Fables = Fables Choisies: A Dual-Language Book
Published in Paperback by Dover Pubns (1997)
Authors: Jean De LA Fontaine, Stanley Appelbaum, and Jean De La Fontaine
Amazon base price: $9.95
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Fables
Fables are entertaining and interesting, reasonably easy to understand for the intermediate French student. Not being familiar with De La Fontaine I was hoping for a short story format, and was surprised to find all of the fables in verse (poetry). All in all, a good book.

Delightful
This book contains many short french stories that are sure to be a big help to any beginner through intermediate level student. It enriches french vocabulary while simultaneously getting the reader used to translating in a non-strict, understandable manner. The opposite page with the english translation is a big help when one gets stuck on a new word!


Acts an Exposition
Published in Hardcover by Zondervan (1980)
Author: Jean De, LA Fontaine
Amazon base price: $10.95
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The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century (The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe)
Published in Hardcover by Continuum International Publishing Group (16 September, 1999)
Authors: Willem De Blecourt, Ronald Hutton, Jean La Fontaine, Bengt Ankarloo, and Stuart Clark
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