La Fontaine
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Authors
Sutherland, Monica
Issue Date
1953
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Type
Book, Whole
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Abstract
Here is an easily readable and engaging life of La Fontaine. Sutherland writes in her Foreword that she sought in vain for a book in English on La Fontaine and not just on his fables. How did she miss Frank Hamel's book from 1911? That book does not get mentioned here in her Select Bibliography (189). Her search for information on La Fontaine was all the stronger because she comes from a family named La Fontaine. I had been looking for an ancestor . . . And I found a friend (9). The book seems to show that kind of warmth throughout. My cursory overview taught me a great deal, e.g., that La Fontaine was not particularly enamored of children; that he got lots of detailed information about the specific lives of animals wrong (though he had a fine basic sense of what they might represent in humans); that he vigorously disputed the Cartesian view that animals are soulless automata; that the writing of the first six books of fables happened principally from 1660 to 1668; that the fables of Books Seven through Eleven may be better than those of the first six books; that he had one visit with the king after the publication of his first six books of fables and forgot the sack of money the king had given him under the cushion of the cab he took home! Though the fables themselves are not the focus of this book, those interested in the fables and comments on them will find information particularly in these chapters: The Gentleman Servant; A New Life; The Candid Soul; and The Inimitable Legacy. There are three photographic illustrations: of La Fontaine's portrait by Rigaud; of the title-page and an opening of a fable in the first edition of 1668; and a letter from Jean to his uncle in 1656.
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Publisher
Jonathan Cape
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Identifier
8168 (Access ID)