An Argot ( /ˈɑrɡoʊ/; French, Spanish, and Catalan for "slang") is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job, sport, etc.

The author Victor Hugo was one of the first to research argot extensively.^[1] He describes it in his novel, Les Misérables, as the language of the dark; at one point, he says, "What is argot; properly speaking? Argot is the language of misery."

The earliest known record of argot was in a 1628 document. The word was probably derived from the contemporary name, les argotiers, given to a group of thieves at that time.^[2]

Under the strictest definition, an argot is a proper language, with its own grammar and style. But, such complete secret languages are rare, because the speakers usually have some public language in common, on which the argot is largely based. Argots are mainly versions of other languages with a part of its vocabulary replaced by words unknown to the larger public. For example, the term is used to describe systems such as verlan and louchébem, which retain French syntax and apply transformations only to individual words (and often only to a certain subset of words, such as nouns, or semantic content words).^[3] Such systems are examples of argots à clef, or "coded argots."^[3]

Specific words can go from argot into common speech or the other way. For example, "piaf" was a Parisian argot word for "sparrow"; after being taken up by the singer Edith Piaf, this meaning became well-known in France and worldwide, and no longer serves the purpose of a secret language.

See also[link]

Look up argot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References[link]

1. ^ Schwartz, Robert M.. "Interesting Facts about Convicts of France in the 19th Century". Mt. Holyoke University. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/popcorn/convicts2.html. 
2. ^ Guiraud, Pierre, L'Argot. Que sais-je?, Paris: PUF, 1958, p. 700
3. ^ ^{a b} Valdman, Albert (2000-05). "La Langue des faubourgs et des banlieues: de l'argot au français populaire". The French Review (American Association of Teachers of French) 73 (6): 1179–1192. JSTOR 399371.  (French)

Simon Abkarian
Born	(1962-03-05) 5 March 1962 (age 50) Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1989–present

Simon Abkarian (born 5 March 1962) is a French-Armenian actor.

Early life and career[link]

Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. He returned to France in 1985, settling in Paris. He took classes at the Acting International school, then he joined Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil and played, among others, in L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge ("The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia") by Hélène Cixous, and in the House of Atreus four-play cycle by Aeschylus. The New York Times critic John Rockwell wrote on 27 March 1991 : "But the star of this cycle is Simon Abkarian. Mr. Abkarian takes on Agamemnon, Achilles, a chorus leader, a Messenger, Orestes and, as an almost giddy bonus, Orestes' aged Nurse. These are parts with a huge range, and Mr. Abkarian was master of them all. But the climax of "The Libation Bearers" -- Orestes crazed with madness as the Furies crow in vengeful triumph, trying to taunt the corpses of his mother and her lover back to life so he can kill them again, drenched in blood and reeling with madness—found Mr. Abkarian almost unbearably intense".

Abkarian left the Théâtre du Soleil in 1993. In 2001 he starred in Beast on the Moon by Richard Kalinoski, directed by Irina Brook, a play about the life of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, a role which won him critical acclaim and the Molière Award for Best Actor.

His first roles in cinema were proposed by French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch, who asked him to play in several of his movies, notably in Chacun cherche son chat ("When the Cat is Away" (1996) and in Ni pour, ni contre (bien au contraire) in 2003.

He was featured in Sally Potter's Yes (2004), in which he played the lead role. Karen Durbin wrote in the New York Times on 8 May 2005 : "With his long, elegant body and lined, tragicomic face -- mournful eyes, a delicious smile under a canopy of dark mustache and a nose just short of Cyrano's, Mr. Abkarian is a visual feast. He's seldom still, his expressive features shifting from sad to sexy to sharply observant, and his loose-limbed body moving for the sheer pleasure of it".

Abkarian then played Mehdi Ben Barka in the thriller J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka by Serge Le Péron, about the kidnapping and the murder of the leader of the Moroccan opposition. He then played in Prendre Femme by Ronit Elkabetz which won him several acting awards. Playing different roles and in different genres, he was featured in the adventure Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas by Bourlem Guerdjou, in the comedy Le Démon de midi by Marie-Pascale Osterrieth. He has also appeared in Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002), he was Albert in Almost Peaceful (2004) by French director Michel Deville, and he was featured in Your Dreams (2005) by Denis Thybaud. He was featured as Sahak in the thriller Les Mauvais Joueurs ("The Gamblers") (2005) by Frédéric Balekdjian. He played the role of villain Alex Dimitrios in the James Bond film, Casino Royale. The character is a government contractor and arms dealer working against Bond.

He has also been the voice of Ebi in the French version of the animated feature Persepolis. Abkarian played the role of the Armenian poet Missak Manouchian in The Army of Crime (2010) by Robert Guédiguian, a French filmmaker based in Marseilles, who is also of Armenian parentage.

He has also played Dariush Bakhshi, the Iranian Special Consul, in the BBC drama Spooks (MI-5). In 2012, he played the role of a drug-dealing Afghan army colonel in the Canal+ series Kaboul Kitchen.

Filmography[link]

• Ararat (2002), Arshile Gorky
• The Truth About Charlie (2002), Lieutenant Dessalines
• Aram (2002), Aram
• Yes (2004), He
• To Take a Wife (2004), Eliyahu
• Gamblers (2005) (directed by Frédéric Balekdjian)
• Le Voyage en Arménie (2006), Sarkis Arabian
• Casino Royale (2006), Alex Dimitrios
• The Serpent (2007), Sam
• Persepolis (2007), Mr. Satrapi - Marjane's father (voice)
• Rendition (2007), Said Abdel Aziz
• Shiva (2008) as Eliau
• Rage (2009), Merlin
• Secret défense (2009), Al Barad
• The Army of Crime (2009)
• Turk's Head (2010)
• Kaboul Kitchen (2012), Colonel Amanullah

References[link]

External links[link]

• Simon Abkarian at the Internet Movie Database
• Brief biography in French

Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer.

Franco Donatoni.

Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy. Later he studied at the Milan Conservatory and Bologna Conservatory.

He taught composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Milan Conservatory, and several other Academies and summer courses such as Darmstädter Ferienkurse and Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.^{[citation needed]}

His compositions have been conducted by Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, Salvatore Accardo, Alain Meunier, and many others.^{[citation needed]}

At least three generations of composers studied with Donatoni. Among the Italian ones: Matteo D'Amico, Roberto Carnevale, Giulio Castagnoli, Ivan Fedele, Sandro Gorli, Luigi Manfrin, Giorgio Magnanensi, Luca Mosca, Riccardo Piacentini, Fausto Romitelli, Riccardo Nova, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Alessandro Solbiati, Piero Niro, Giovanni Verrando and among the foreigner ones: Gilles Bellemare, Pascal Dusapin, Javier Jacinto, Magnus Lindberg, Pierre Kolp, Javier Torres Maldonado, Katia Tiutiunnik, Juan Trigos.

One of Donatoni's notable students is the Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. Donatoni dedicated his final work, "Esa (in Cauda V)," to Salonen, after having dictated it to his assistants from his death bed, even using letters from Salonen's first name as part of the musical material. Prior to the work's world premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Salonen briefly discussed the piece from the stage: while at first he was too sad to conduct it, he ultimately found joy and affirmation in the piece, noting, "my old teacher's message to me, something like 'Carry on, son, it will be OK.' "^[1][2]

Donatoni died in Milan in 2000, after dictating his last work, "Esa," to his students.

Works[link]

• Quartet no. 1, for string quartet (1950)
• Concerto for Orchestra (1951)
• Il libro dei Sette Sigilli, biblical cantata for soli, horn and orchestra (1951)
• Recitativo e allegro for violin and piano (1951)
• Concertino, for 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 4 timpani and archi (1952)
• Concerto, for bassoon and orchestra (1952)
• Sonata, for viola solo (1952)
• Ouverture, for chamber orchestra (1953)
• Symphony, for string orchestra (1953)
• Cinque pezzi, for 2 pianos (1954)
• Divertimento, for violino e gruppo strumentale (1954)
• Musica, for chamber orchestra (1955)
• La lampara, ballet (1957)
• Tre improvvisazioni for piano (1957)
• Quartet no. 2, for string quartet (1958)
• Movimento, for harpsichord, piano, and 9 instruments (1959)
• Serenata, for female voice and 16 instruments, text from Dylan Thomas (1959)
• Strophes, for orchestra (1959)
• For Grilly ("improvvisazione per sette" [improvisation for seven]), for 7 performers (1960)
• Sezioni ("Invenzione per orchestra" [inventions for orchestra]) (1960)
• Doubles, for harpsichord (1961)
• Puppenspiel I, ("Studi per una musica di scena" [studies for theatrical music]) for orchestra (1961)
• Quartet no. 3, for four-channel tape (1961)
• Per orchestra (1962)
• Quartet no. 4 (Zrcadlo), for string quartet (1963)
• Asar, for 10 string instruments (1964)
• Babai, for harpsichord (1964)
• Black and white, for 37 string instruments (1964)
• Divertimento no. 2, for strings (1965)
• Puppenspiel II, for flute and orchestra (1966)
• Etwas ruhiger im Ausdruck, for flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano (1967)
• Souvenir ("Kammersymphonie op. 18" [Chamber Symphony op. 18]), for 15 musical instruments (1967)
• Black and white II "Esercizi per le dieci dita" [Exercises for the Ten Fingers] for keyboard instruments (1968)
• Estratto for piano (1969)
• Orts ("Souvenir n. 2"), for 14 instruments and narrator ad libitum (1969)
• Solo, for string orchestra (1969)
• Doubles II, for orchestra (1970)
• To Earle, for chamber orchestra (1970)
• Secondo estratto, for harp, harpsichord, and piano (1970)
• To Earle Two, for orchestra and instruments (1971)
• Lied, for 13 instruments (1972)
• Jeux pour deux, for harpsichord and positive organ (1973)
• Voci - Orchesterübung, for orchestra (1973)
• Espressivo, for oboe and orchestra (1974)
• Quarto estratto, for 8 instruments (1974)
• Duetto, for harpsichord (1975)
• Duo pour Bruno, for orchestra (1975)
• Lumen, for 6 strumenti (1975)
• Terzo estratto, for piano and 8 instruments (1975)
• Ash, for 8 instruments (1976)
• Musette per Lothar, for musette (1976)
• Algo, for guitar (1977) (Written for Ruggero Chiesa and Oscar Ghiglia)
• Ali, 2 Pieces for viola solo (1977)
• Diario 76, for 4 trumpets and 4 trombones (1977)
• Portrait, for harpsichord and orchestra (1977)
• Spiri, for 10 instruments (1977)
• Toy, for 2 violins, viola, and harpsichord (1977)
• Arie, for female voice and orchestra, texts by Omar Khayyam, Renato Maestri, Fray Luis de León, Tiziana Fumagalli, Hafiz (1978)
• De Près, for female voice, 2 piccolos and 3 violins (1978)
• Ed insieme bussarono, for female voice and piano (1978)
• About..., for violin, viola, and guitar (1979)
• Argot, for violin (1979)
• Marches, for harp (1979)
• Nidi, for piccolo (1979)
• Clair, for clarinet (1980)
• L'ultima sera, for female voice and 5 instruments, text by Fernando Pessoa (1980)
• Le ruisseau sur l'escalier, for violoncello and 19 performers (1980)
• The Heart's Eye, for string quartet (1980)
• Fili, for flute and piano (1981)
• Small, for piccolo, clarinet, and harp (1981)
• Tema, for 12 instruments (1981)
• Feria, for 5 flutes, 5 trumpets an organ (1982)
• Lame, for violoncello (1982)
• In cauda (in three movements), for choir and orchestra (1982–1986),
• Abyss, for low female voice, bass flauto in C, and 10 instruments, text by Susan Park (1983),
• Ala, for violoncello and contrabass (1983),
• Alamari for violoncello, contrabass, and piano (1983),
• Diario '83 for 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, and orchestra (1983)
• Lem, for contrabass (1983)
• Rima, for piano (1983)
• She for 3 soprani and 6 instruments, text by Susan Park (1983)
• Symphony, op. 63 ("Anton Webern"), for chamber orchestra (1983)
• Françoise Variationen, for piano (1983–1996),
• Atem, opera in two movements and an intermezzo, text by Brandolino Brandolini d'Adda, Tiziana Fumagalli, Renato Maestri, and Susan Park (1984)
• Cadeau, for 11 performers (1984)
• Darkness for 6 percussionisti (1984)
• Ombra for contrabass clarinet (1984)
• Ronda for violino, viola, violoncello, and piano (1984)
• Omar for vibrafono (1985)
• Sextet, for 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 violoncellos (1985)
• Still for soprano leggero e 6 strumenti (1985)
• Eco for orchestra da camera (1985–1986)
• Arpège, for 6 instruments (1986)
• Refrain, for 8 instruments (1986)
• Ave, for piccolo, glockenspiel, and celesta (1987)
• Flag, for 13 instruments (1987)
• O si ride for 12 solo voices, tesxt by Brandolino Brandolini D'Adda (1987)
• A Françoise, for piano (1988)
• Cinis, for female voice and bass clarinet, testo di Gaio Licinio Calvo (1988)
• La souris sans sourire, for string quarteti (1988)
• Short, for trumpet in C (1988),
• Cloches, for 2 pianos, 8 wind instruments, and 2 percussionists (1988–1989)
• Blow, for wind quintet (1989)
• Ciglio for violin (1989)
• Frain, for 8 instruments (1989)
• Hot for sopranino or tenor saxophone and 6 performers (1989)
• Midi, for flute (1989)
• Soft, for bass clarinet (1989)
• Ase (Algo II), for female voice and guitar (1990)
• Bok, for bass clarinet and marimba (1990)
• Chantal, for solo harp, flute, clarinet, and string quartet (1990)
• Cloches II, for 2 pianos (1990)
• Het, for flute, bass clarinet, and piano (1990)
• Holly, for cor anglais, oboe, oboe d'amour, and 13 instruments (1990)
• Marches II for solo harp, 3 female voices ad libitum, 12 instruments, and 3 percussionists (1990)
• Rasch, for 4 saxophones (1990)
• Spice (Ronda n. 2) for violino/viola, clarinet in B-flat/E-flat clarinet, violoncello, and piano (1990)
• Cloches III, for 2 pianos e 2 percussionisti (1991),
• Madrigale, for 4 choirs of white voices and 4 percussionists, text by Elsa Morante (1991)
• Refrain II, for 11 performers (1991)
• Aahiel, for mezzosoprano, clarinet, vibraphone, marimba, and piano, anonymous text (1992)
• An Angel within my Heart for female voice, 2 clarinets, and string trio, text by Susan Park (1992)
• Concerto Grosso, for orchestra and 5 electronic keyboards (1992)
• Feria II, for organ (1992),
• Feria III, for organ (1992)
• Jay, for piano, 2 trumpets, 3 horns, and 2 trombones (1992)
• Late in the Day (Ronda n. 3), for soprano, flute, clarinet, and piano, text by Michael Riviere (1992)
• Mari for marimba (1992)
• Mari II for 4 marimbas (1992)
• Nidi II, for tenor recorder (1992)
• Scaglie, for trombone (1992)
• Sincronie, for piano with accompaniment of a solo violoncello (1992)
• Sweet, for tenor recorder (1992)
• Algo II, for 2 guitars (1993)
• Ciglio II, for violine and flute (1993)
• Concertino no. 2, for 5 electronic keyboards (1993)
• Refrain III, for 14 performers (1993)
• Small II, for flute, viola, and harp (1993)
• Sweet Basil, for trombone and big band (1993)
• In cauda II, for orchestra (1993–1994)
• Ciglio III, for violin and piano (1994)
• Flans, per coloratura soprano and 9 instruments, text by François Villon (1994)
• Portal, for clarinet in B-flat, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, and orchestra (1994)
• Puppenspiel III for piccolo, flute, alto flute in G, and 14 performers (1994)
• Serenata II for 5 instruments (1994)
• Sincronie II for violoncello, piano, and 7 instruments (1994)
• Alfred, Alfred opera in seven scenes and six intermezzi, text by the composer (1995)
• Algo III for guitar and 23 performers (1995)
• Cinis II, for bass clarinet, marimba and percussion (1995),
• Duet no. 2, for 2 violins (1995,
• Fanfara, for brass (1995)
• Incisi, for oboe (1995)
• Luci, for flute in G (1995)
• Rasch II for 4 saxophones, vibraphone, marimba, percussion, and piano (1995)
• Triplum, for flute, oboe, and clarinet (1995)
• Algo IV for 13 instruments (1996)
• In cauda III, for orchestra (1996)
• Lame II, for 8 violoncellos (1996)
• Lem II, for contrabass and 15 instruments (1996)
• Luci II, for bassoon and horn (1996)
• Refrain IV, for 8 strumenti (1996)
• Till, for corno (1996)
• Al, for mandolin, mandola, and guitar (1997)
• Che, for tuba (1997)
• Feria IV, for accordion (1997)
• Luci III, for string quartet (1997)
• Tell, for cor anglais (1997)
• Cerocchi 70 for clarinet, violoncello, and piano (1998)
• Elly, for clarinet, violoncello, and piano (1998)
• Fire (In cauda IV), for 4 female voices and orchestra, text by Jack Beeching (1998)
• Poll, for 13 performers (1998)
• Clair II, for clarinet (1999)
• Prom, for orchestra (1999)
• ESA (In cauda V), for orchestra (2000)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography by David Wright [since removed by MusicWeb International!?]
• Obituary in the Musical Times
• Recording of "Arpège", for ensemble.
• Excerpts from sound archives of Donatoni's works.
• (French) A biography of Franco Donatoni, from IRCAM's website.

Jean de La Fontaine
Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud (Private collection)
Born	(1621-07-08)8 July 1621 Château-Thierry, Champagne. 1
Died	13 April 1695(1695-04-13) (aged 73) Paris, France
Occupation	Fabulist, Poet

Jean de La Fontaine (IPA: [ʒɑ̃ də la fɔ̃tɛn]; July 8, 1621, Château-Thierry – April 13, 1695, Paris) was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.

According to Flaubert, he was the only French poet to understand and master the texture of the French language before Hugo. A set of postage stamps celebrating La Fontaine and the Fables was issued by France in 1995.

Life[link]

Early years[link]

La Fontaine was born at Château-Thierry in France. His father was Charles de La Fontaine, maître des eaux et forêts - a kind of deputy-ranger - of the duchy of Château-Thierry; his mother was Françoise Pidoux. Both sides of his family were of the highest provincial middle class; though they were not noble, his father was fairly wealthy.^[1]

Jean, the eldest child, was educated at the collège (grammar school) of Reims, and at the end of his school days he entered the Oratory in May 1641, and the seminary of Saint-Magloire in October of the same year; but a very short sojourn proved to him that he had mistaken his vocation. He then apparently studied law, and is said to have been admitted as avocat (lawyer).

Family life[link]

He was, however, settled in life, or at least might have been so, somewhat early. In 1647 his father resigned his rangership in his favor, and arranged a marriage for him with Marie Héricart, a girl of sixteen, who brought him 20,000 livres, and expectations. She seems to have been both beautiful and intelligent, but the two did not get along well together. There appears to be absolutely no ground for the vague scandal as to her conduct, which was, for the most part, raised long afterwards by gossip or personal enemies of La Fontaine. All that can be positively said against her is that she was a negligent housewife and an inveterate novel reader; La Fontaine himself was constantly away from home, was certainly not strict in point of conjugal fidelity, and was so bad a man of business that his affairs became involved in hopeless difficulty, and a separation de biens had to take place in 1658. This was a perfectly amicable transaction for the benefit of the family; by degrees, however, the pair, still without any actual quarrel, ceased to live together, and for the greater part of the last forty years of La Fontaine's life he lived in Paris while his wife dwelt at Chateau Thierry, which, however, he frequently visited. One son was born to them in 1653, and was educated and taken care of wholly by his mother.^[2]

Paris[link]

File:La Fontaine - Fables choisies, Barbin 1692, tome 1.djvu Even in the earlier years of his marriage La Fontaine seems to have been much in Paris, but it was not until about 1656 that he became a regular visitor to the capital. The duties of his office, which were only occasional, were compatible with this non-residence. It was not until he was past thirty that his literary career began. The reading of Malherbe, it is said, first awoke poetical fancies in him, but for some time he attempted nothing but trifles in the fashion of the time - epigrams, ballades, rondeaux, etc.

His first serious work was a translation or adaptation of the Eunuchus of Terence (1654). At this time the Maecenas of French writing was the Superintendent Fouquet, to whom La Fontaine was introduced by Jacques Jannart, a connection of his wife's. Few people who paid their court to Fouquet went away empty-handed, and La Fontaine soon received a pension of 1000 livres (1659), on the easy terms of a copy of verses for each quarters receipt. He also began a medley of prose and poetry, entitled Le Songe de Vaux, on Fouquet's famous country house.

It was about this time that his wife's property had to be separately secured to her, and he seems by degrees to have had to sell everything that he owned; but, as he never lacked powerful and generous patrons, this was of small importance to him. In the same year he wrote a ballad, Les Rieurs du Beau-Richard, and this was followed by many small pieces of occasional poetry addressed to various personages from the king downwards.

Fouquet soon incurred the royal displeasure, but La Fontaine, like most of his literary proteges, was not unfaithful to him, the well-known elegy Pleurez, Nymphes de Vaux, being by no means the only proof of his devotion. Indeed it is thought not improbable that a journey to Limoges in 1663 in company with Jannart, and of which we have an account written to his wife, was not wholly spontaneous, as it certainly was not on Jannart's part.

Just at this time his affairs did not look promising. His father and he had assumed the title of esquire, to which they were not strictly entitled, and, some old edicts on the subject having been put in force, an informer procured a sentence against the poet fining him 2000 livres. He found, however, a new protector in the duke and still more in the Duchess of Bouillon, his feudal superiors at Chateau Thierry, and nothing more is heard of the fine.

Some of La Fontaine's liveliest verses are addressed to the duchess, Marie Anne Mancini, the youngest of Mazarin's nieces, and it is even probable that the taste of the duke and duchess for Ariosto had something to do with the writing of his first work of real importance, the first book of the Contes, which appeared in 1664. He was then forty-three years old, and his previous printed productions had been comparatively trivial, though much of his work was handed about in manuscript long before it was regularly published.

Fame[link]

It was about this time that the quartet of the Rue du Vieux Colombier, so famous in French literary history, was formed. It consisted of La Fontaine, Racine, Boileau and Molière, the last of whom was almost of the same age as La Fontaine, the other two considerably younger. Chapelain was also a kind of outsider in the coterie. There are many anecdotes, some pretty obviously apocryphal, about these meetings. The most characteristic is perhaps that which asserts that a copy of Chapelain's unlucky Pucelle always lay on the table, a certain number of lines of which was the appointed punishment for offences against the company. The coterie furnished under feigned names the personages of La Fontaine's version of the Cupid and Psyche story, which, however, with Adonis, was not printed till 1669.

Portrait of La Fontaine attributed to François de Troy

Meanwhile the poet continued to find friends. In 1664 he was regularly commissioned and sworn in as gentleman to the duchess dowager of Orléans, and was installed in the Luxembourg. He still retained his rangership, and in 1666 we have something like a reprimand from Colbert suggesting that he should look into some malpractices at Chateau Thierry. In the same year appeared the second book of the Contes, and in 1668 the first six books of the Fables, with more of both kinds in 1671. In this latter year a curious instance of the docility with which the poet lent himself to any influence was afforded by his officiating, at the instance of the Port-Royalists, as editor of a volume of sacred poetry dedicated to the Prince of Conti.

A year afterwards his situation, which had for some time been decidedly flourishing, showed signs of changing very much for the worse. The duchess of Orléans died, and he apparently had to give up his rangership, probably selling it to pay debts. But there was always a providence for La Fontaine. Madame de la Sablière, a woman of great beauty, of considerable intellectual power and of high character, invited him to make his home in her house, where he lived for some twenty years. He seems to have had no trouble whatever about his affairs thenceforward; and could devote himself to his two different lines of poetry, as well as to that of theatrical composition.

Academy[link]

In 1682 he was, at more than sixty years of age, recognized as one of the first men of letters of France. Madame de Sévigné, one of the soundest literary critics of the time, and by no means given to praise mere novelties, had spoken of his second collection of Fables published in the winter of 1678 as divine; and it is pretty certain that this was the general opinion. It was not unreasonable, therefore, that he should present himself to the Académie française, and, though the subjects of his Contes were scarcely calculated to propitiate that decorous assembly, while his attachment to Fouquet and to more than one representative of the old Frondeur party made him suspect to Colbert and the king, most of the members were his personal friends.

He was first proposed in 1682, but was rejected for Marquis de Dangeau. The next year Colbert died and La Fontaine was again nominated. Boileau was also a candidate, but the first ballot gave the fabulist sixteen votes against seven only for the critic. The king, whose assent was necessary, not merely for election but for a second ballot in case of the failure of an absolute majority, was ill-pleased, and the election was left pending. Another vacancy occurred, however, some months later, and to this Boileau was elected. The king hastened to approve the choice effusively, adding, Vous pouvez incessamment recevoir La Fontaine, il a promis d'etre sage.

A scene from La Fontaine's story Le Gascon Puni by Nicolas Lancret, Musée du Louvre

His admission was indirectly the cause of the only serious literary quarrel of his life. A dispute took place between the Academy and one of its members, Antoine Furetière, on the subject of the latter's French dictionary, which was decided to be a breach of the Academy's corporate privileges. Furetire, a man of no small ability, bitterly assailed those whom he considered to be his enemies, and among them La Fontaine, whose unlucky Contes made him peculiarly vulnerable, his second collection of these tales having been the subject of a police condemnation. The death of the author of the Roman Bourgeois, however, put an end to this quarrel.

Shortly afterwards La Fontaine had a share in a still more famous affair, the celebrated Ancient-and-Modern squabble in which Boileau and Charles Perrault were the chiefs, and in which La Fontaine (though he had been specially singled out by Perrault for favorable comparison with Aesop and Phaedrus) took the Ancient side. About the same time (1685–1687) he made the acquaintance of the last of his many hosts and protectors, Monsieur and Madame d'Hervart, and fell in love with a certain Madame Ulrich, a lady of some position but of doubtful character. This acquaintance was accompanied by a great familiarity with Vendôme, Chaulieu and the rest of the libertine coterie of the Temple; but, though Madame de la Sablière had long given herself up almost entirely to good works and religious exercises, La Fontaine continued an inmate of her house until her death in 1693.

What followed is told in one of the best known of the many stories bearing on his childlike nature. Hervart on hearing of the death, had set out at once to find La Fontaine. He met him in the street in great sorrow, and begged him to make his home at his house. J'y allais was La Fontaines answer. He had already undergone the process of conversion during a severe illness the year before. An energetic young priest, M. Poucet, had brought him, not indeed to understand, but to acknowledge the impropriety of the Contes, and it is said that the destruction of a new play of some merit was demanded and submitted to as a proof of repentance.

A pleasant story is told of the young duke of Burgundy, Fenelon's pupil, who was then only eleven years old, sending 50 louis to La Fontaine as a present of his own motion. But, though La Fontaine recovered for the time, he was broken by age and infirmity, and his new hosts had to nurse rather than to entertain him, which they did very carefully and kindly. He did a little more work, completing his Fables among other things; but he did not survive Madame de la Sablière much more than two years, dying on 13 April 1695, at the age of seventy-three. When the Père Lachaise Cemetery opened in Paris, Lafontaine's remains were moved there. His wife survived him nearly fifteen years.

Anecdotes[link]

The curious personal character of La Fontaine, like that of some other men of letters, has been enshrined in a kind of legend by literary tradition. At an early age his absence of mind and indifference to business gave a subject to Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux. His later contemporaries helped to swell the tale, and the 18th century finally accepted it, including the anecdotes of his meeting his son, being told who he was, and remarking, Ah, yes, I thought I had seen him somewhere!, of his insisting on fighting a duel with a supposed admirer of his wife, and then imploring him to visit at his house just as before; of his going into company with his stockings wrong side out, &c., with, for a contrast, those of his awkwardness and silence, if not positive rudeness in company.

It ought to be remembered, as a comment on the unfavourable description by Jean de La Bruyère, that La Fontaine was a special friend and ally of Benserade, La Bruyere's chief literary enemy. But after all deductions much will remain, especially when it is remembered that one of the chief authorities for these anecdotes is Louis Racine, a man who possessed intelligence and moral worth, and who received them from his father, La Fontaine's attached friend for more than thirty years. Perhaps the best worth recording of all these stories is one of the Vieux Colombier quartet, which tells how Molière, while Racine and Boileau were exercising their wits upon le bonhomme or le bon (by both which titles La Fontaine was familiarly known), remarked to a bystander, Nos beaux esprits ont beau faire, ils n'effaceront pas le bonhomme. They have not.

Works[link]

The numerous works of La Fontaine fall into three traditional divisions: the Fables, the Contes and the miscellaneous works. Of these the first may be said to be known universally and to exhibit the versatility and fecundity of the author's talent more fully than any of his other work; the second division, his tales, are known to all lovers of French literature, but the rest of his writing, with a few exceptions, is practically forgotten.

Popular culture[link]

A film of his life was released in France in April 2007 (Jean de La Fontaine - le défi, starring Lorant Deutsch).^[3] Astronomers named the asteroid 5780 Lafontaine in his honor upon the 300th anniversary of his birth.^[4]

See also[link]

• Fable

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: George Saintsbury (1911). "La Fontaine, Jean de". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Further reading[link]

The original fables of La Fontaine, edited by Frederick Colin Tilney (1865–1951)

• Young La Fontaine: A Study of His Artistic Growth in His Early Poetry and First Fables, by Philip A. Wadsworth. Pub. Northwestern University Press, 1952.
• Oeuvres diverses de Jean de La Fontaine, edited by Pierre Clarac. Pub. Gallimard ("Bibliothèque de la Pléiade"), 1958. The standard, fully annotated edition of LF's prose and minor poetry.
• O Muse, fuyante proie ...: essai sur la poésie de La Fontaine, by Odette de Mourgues. Pub. Corti, 1962. Seminal.
• Le Monde littéraire de La Fontaine, by Jean-Pierre Collinet. Pub. PUF, 1970
• The Esthetics of Negligence: La Fontaine's Contes, by John C. Lapp. Pub. Cambridge University Press, 1971.
• [La Fontaine] l'Esprit Créateur 21.4 (1981); guest-editor: David Lee Rubin.
• Patterns of Irony in the Fables of La Fontaine, by Richard Danner. Pub. Ohio University Press, 1985.
• La Fontaine: Fables, 2 volumes, edited by Marc Fumaroli. Pub. Imprimerie Nationale, 1985. Brilliant introductory essays and notes on texts.
• La Fontaine, by Marie-Odile Sweetser. Pub. G.K. Hall (Twayne World Authors Series 788), 1987.
• Oeuvres complètes de Jean de La Fontaine: Fables et Contes, edited by Jean-Pierre Collinet. Pub. Gallimard ("Bibliothèque de la Pléiade"), 1991. The standard fully annotated edition of these works.
• A Pact with Silence: Art and Thought in the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, by David Lee Rubin. Pub. Ohio State U Press, 1991.
• La Fabrique des Fables, by Patrick Dandrey. Pub. Klincksieck, 1991.
• Figures of the Text: Reading and Writing (in) La Fontaine, by Michael Vincent. Pub. John Benjamins (Purdue University Monographs in Romance Literatures), 1992.
• La Fontaine's Bawdy: Of Libertines, Louts, and Lechers, selections from Contes et nouvelles en vers, transl. Norman Shapiro. Pub. Princeton University Press, 1992; repr. Black Widow Press, forthcoming.
• Lectures de La Fontaine, by Jules Brody. Pub. Rookwood Press, 1995.
• Refiguring La Fontaine: Tercentenary Essays, edited by Anne L. Birberick. Pub. Rookwood Press, 1996.
• Reading Under Cover: Audience and Authority in Jean La Fontaine, by Anne L. Birberick. Pub. Bucknell University Press, 1998.
• Cognitive Space and Patterns of Deceit in La Fontaine's Contes, by Catherine M. Grisé. Pub: Rookwood Press, 1998.
• In La Fontaine's Labyrinth: a Thread through the Fables, by Randolph Paul Runyon. Pub. Rookwood Press, 2000.
• Poet and the King: Jean de La Fontaine and His Century, by Marc Fumaroli; Jean Marie Todd (transl.). Pub. University of Notre Dame, 2002.
• The Shape of Change: Essays on La Fontaine and Early Modern French Literature in Honor of David Lee Rubin, edited by Anne L. Birberick and Russell J. Ganim. Pub. Rodopi, 2002.
• La Fontaine à l'école républicaine: Du poète universel au classique scolaire, by Ralph Albanese, Jr. Pub. Rookwood Press 2003.
• The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, Norman Shapiro (transl.). Pub. University of Illinois Press, 2007.
• La Fontaine's Complete Tales in Verse, An Illustrated And Annotated Translation, by Randolph Paul Runyon. Pub. McFarland & Company, 2009.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jean de La Fontaine

French Wikisource has original text related to this article: Jean de La Fontaine

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean de La Fontaine

• The museum is the native house of the poet in Château-Thierry, France (in French but soon in English)
• Works by Jean de La Fontaine at Project Gutenberg
• (French) Extensive information and works online
• (French) Biography, Analysis
• (French) Chocolat Menier - Les Fables de La Fontaine pictures and French language text
• (Italian) Jean de La Fontaine: text, concordance and frequency list
• (French) Biography and Fables in French language
• English translations of the complete fables
• Eric Ormsby on La Fontaine's fables from Parnassus: Poetry in Review
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "La Fontaine, Jean de". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • James Wood (1907). "Lafontaine, Jean de". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 
  • "La Fontaine, Jean de". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
  • "La Fontaine, Jean de". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.