Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695), one of the best-loved French poets, is the foremost fabulist since Aesop, and his books have entertained generations of readers throughout France and the Western world. In Once Again, La Fontaine, Norman R. Shapiro brings his scholarly knowledge of fable lore and outstanding facility with English verse together to produce beautiful, witty translations. Adults will be captured by the subtle and sophisticated layers...

Charming and elegant, Jean de La Fontaine's (1621-1695) animal fables depict sly foxes and scheming cats, vain birds and greedy wolves, all of which subtly express his penetrating insights into French society and the beasts found in all of us. Norman R. Shapiro has been translating La Fontaine's fables for over twenty years, capturing the original works' lively mix of plain and archaic language. This newly complete collection is destined to set the...

The Fables of Jean de La Fontaine were issued in several volumes from 1668 to 1694. They are classics of French literature.

These wonderfully wrought moral tales will as easily charm children with bright and basic truths as they will delight adults drawn to their reflectively subtle, sophisticated facets of wit and wisdom.