In 1855 the French caricaturist Honore Daumier and six other artists proposed to illustrate anew the fables of revered French poet and fabulist Jean de la Fontaine (1621-95), and what a book it would have been! Their project was never realized -- until now. Prompted by Daumier's intention, artist Koren Christofides has brought together more than sixty artists from across the United States, Europe, and Asia to create original artwork for Fables of La Fontaine. These illustrations -- by painters, printmakers, photographers, ceramists, sculptors, conceptual artists, fiber artists, and art historians -- celebrate an extraordinary intersection of contemporary art with the fabulist tradition.

Constantine Christofides and Christopher Carsten have translated sixty-five of La Fontaine's fables. Readers will not only find familiar tales, such as "The Hare and the Tortoise," that have delighted generations of children and adults, but also a trove of lesser-known satiric fables, such as "The Man Between Two Ages and His Two Mistresses," translated here with sophisticated gusto and an elegance worthy of La Fontaine's enduring genius.

A cogent introduction by Constantine Christofides describes the volatile social context of seventeenth-century France as well as the literary tradition, stemming from Aesop, that underlies La Fontaine's fables. Koren Christofides, the project's initiator and director, gives a curator's account in her preface of the present-day artists' exhibition from which the book's illustrations were chosen.

This stunning edition pairs 65 fresh translations of fables by the 17th century French poet with illustrations by contemporary artists from the United States, Europe, and Asia.

About the Author

Koren Christofides is a widely exhibited painter whose work is in private and public collections in the United States and Europe. Constantine Christofides is professor emeritus of comparative literature, French, and art history, University of Washington, and distinguished professor of humanities, Institute for American Universities, Aix-en-Provence. Christopher Carsten , a poet and translator, is on the faculty at the Institute for American Universities.

Reviews
"This new translation effort is impressive, both visually and in literary terms... The question of whether to preserve the verse and how to render it in English has been been masterly resolved by Constantine Christofides. The result is a free verse, an approximate prosody that, although it does not reproduce the original, gives a faithful echo of it." Le Monde



Book Information
ISBN 9780295986142
Author Koren G. Christofides
Format Hardback
Page Count 172
Imprint University of Washington Press
Publisher University of Washington Press
Weight(grams) 989g