Ten unusual stories: "Micromégas" by Voltaire; "The Atheist's Mass" by Balzac; "The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler" by Flaubert; "Spleen of Paris" by Baudelaire; and more. English translations appear on facing pages.
In the tradition of Aesop, the fables in this entertaining collection also impart practical, moral advice. Included are a trio of tales in verse as well as prose favorites such as "Sleeping Beauty," and "Little Red Riding Hood." English translations appear on pages facing the original French. The most complete edition available in English.
Here is presented for the first time an extraordinary medieval text, the first Old French Vie des Pères. The Vie des Pères is in fact a collective text comprising three branches and, at its fullest, over seventy individually enclosed pious tales / miracles. The first Vie – the first forty-one or -two tales – dates from the first third of the thirteenth century. It is a vitally significant but hitherto neglected part of the Old French canon. Indeed, in his preface to this volume Michel Zink, one of the most respected medievalists of his generation, notes that the qualities of the Vie des Pèrs ‘devraient valoir à son auteur une place au voisinage de celle qu’occupent pour nous celui de la Chanson de Roland ou Chrétien de Troyes.’ The tales are remarkably well written and offer fascinating glimpses of thirteenth-century life and spirituality. They were also extremely popular in Medieval France. Sharing close links with a number of traditions – fabliaux, Saints’ Lives, Miracles of the Virgin, Romance, Sermons – the Vie des Pères has value for those interested in many branches of vernacular literature, codicology, lexicography, art history, theology and philology. Tales of Vice and Virtue – the first sustained analysis of the entire first Vie des Pères to be published – is a groundbreaking book providing readers new to the text with detailed commentaries, offering abundant intertextual information for romance philologists, and suggesting many new areas for further research.
• Offers commentary for each story, revealing its historical context, cultural and esoteric associations, and hidden pagan beliefs • Explores how the tales transformed over the ages and their origins in Classical Antiquity, the Middle East, and India • Includes stories never-before-translated from their original Latin and many purposely left in obscurity due to scandalous depictions of popes and other notables The Middle Ages witnessed the blossoming of oral traditions whose echoes can still be found in many legends, fables, and tales today. In this collection of medieval tales of witchcraft, wonder, and the supernatural, Claude and Corinne Lecouteux explain how many of these stories arose in Classical Antiquity while some made their way into Dark Ages Europe from the Middle East and India. Offering commentary for each tale, the authors place them in historical context and analyze their cultural and esoteric associations. They include stories never- before-translated from their original Latin or demotic versions and show how, unlike the well-known fairy tales made popular by the Brothers Grimm, many stories were purposely left in obscurity because they presented scandalous depictions of popes and other notables. Additionally, for many of the tales, the authors scrupulously peel back the Christian veneer to show how the stories were instrumental in assuring the survival of age-old pagan beliefs across the centuries. These beliefs are explored through tales of animals with magical powers and the ability to converse with humans, including the tale of the Grateful Lion made famous through Aesop’s fables; stories of individuals with supernatural or otherworldly powers, like the Venomous Maiden who poisons all men who have relations with her; legends of miracles and wondrous things that violate the laws of nature, such as people returning from the dead to help a descendant; and stories of witchcraft, magic, and demonic apparitions, including the pope who was a disguised demon. The authors also explore tales of supernatural spouses and illicit love affairs, wisdom teachings and parables of fools, and heroic legends.