Storysongs/Chantefables: French Poems - Hardcover

Robert Desnos

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 190852720X ISBN 13: 9781908527202

Publisher: Agenda Editions, 2014

Synopsis

A charming book for children and adults to sing to any tune. The brilliant French poet and surrealist Robert Desnos, 1900-45, wrote these thirty Storysongs or 'Chantefables' in 1943, shortly before he was deported as a Resistant. They were quickly published, but he never saw them in print.

These little whimsies of the animal world have delighted generations of French children. Now at last they have been skilfully put into English by the translator-poet, Timothy Adès.

This book is bilingual and is adorned with superb illustrations by the award-winning graphic artist Cat Zaza (Caterina Zandonella).

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Desnos (1900-1945) was one of the primary poets and writers of the Surrealist movement of 1924-1930. Besides poetry, Desnos wrote on a wide range of subjects from film texts and criticism to novels. During WWII he became a poet of the resistance, but was arrested and sent to several notorious concentration camps for the duration of the war. He died as a result of his internment.

Timothy Adès is a translator-poet. Born in 1941, he learnt to write Latin and Greek verse at school. Later, he started to translate poetry from modern languages. His award-winning version of Jean Cassou's 33 Sonnets of the Resistance and Victor Hugo's How to be a Grandfather were published in 2002. Cuernavaca by Alfonso Reyes won the TLS Premio Valle-Inclán Prize and Hugo's Moscow, Waterloo, St Helena the John Dryden Prize. Versions of Brecht, Desnos, Louise Labé and many others have appeared in journals.

About this edition

• Publisher: Agenda Editions
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 190852720X
• ISBN 13: 9781908527202
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Cat Zaza