Book Description

While one may be tempted by tradition to think of Jean de La Fontaine's The Fables as children's stories, such a notion does a disservice to La Fontaine's elegant poetry and down-to-earth, sometimes bitter philosophy and view of life. A point to keep in mind in reading The Fables is that they were written over a period of more than twenty-five years. The first six books of fables were published in 1668, five more books appeared in 1673-1679, and the twelfth and final book was published in 1694. As such, The Fables reflect the changes in point of view of a writer who matured and perhaps mellowed as he wrote and published his fable-poems.To a certain degree, La Fontaine's ideas also reflect social and political problems and philosophical styles in France during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). Many of the early fables seem to comment on specific injustices of Louis XIV's regime, especially as they affected the common people, while the fables from La Fontaine's later years mainly express a spiritual withdrawal that resembles stoicism in certain respects.As the literary heir of ancient fabulists such as Aesop, Bidpai, and Phaedrus, La Fontaine makes use of a form that was familiar to his readers. Most of his fables feature a story and a moral, the latter often separated from the text of the tale. La Fontaine's verse form varies; he uses eight-syllable lines as a basic structure, but he often exploits the dignified twelve-syllable Alexandrine form, the verse form identified with seventeenth century French tragedy, when he wishes to express exceptional drama and seriousness.