Moral Tales - Softcover

Laforgue, Jules

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811209431 ISBN 13: 9780811209434

Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1985

Synopsis

Provides humorous parodies of the stories of Hamlet, Lohengrin, Salome, Perseus, and Pan, and includes information about the author's life and times

About this title

About the Author:

Lyrical and scathingly pessimistic, Uruguay-born French poet Jules Laforgue offered an urgent tone of despair and fatalism, often rendered with playfully provocative and cynical humor. In 1918 Ezra Pound said of him, "He is an exquisite poet, a deliverer of nations...a father of light." Among the most innovative of poets in the French language and a pioneer in the use of free verse, Laforgue was an important influence on the young T. S. Eliot. Notable also for his early protests for the liberation of women, Laforgue died in Paris in 1887 aged just 27.

Author of more than fifty books of poetry, children's verse, literary criticism, translation, and memoirs, and editor of several influential anthologies, William Jay Smith served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (a position now called Poet Laureate) from 1968 to 1970. His memoir, Army Brat, was praised by Eudora Welty and Ralph Ellison, among many others, and his translations have won awards from the French Academy, the Swedish Academy, and the Hungarian government. Two of his thirteen collections of poetry were final contenders for the National Book Award. Professor Emeritus of English at Hollins University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he divides his time between Cummington, Massachusetts, and Paris.

William Jay Smith (1918-2015) served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (a position now called Poet Laureate) from 1968 to 1970 and was twice a finalist for the National Book Award. He lived in Cummington, Massachusetts and Paris.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0811209431
• ISBN 13: 9780811209434
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192