Fables de Florian

Florian, 1755-1794Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 192K words
Chapters: 20

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Fables de Florian by FlorianAuthor: Florian, 1755-1794,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Nov 8, 2018

Editor's review

Fables de Florian is a collection of fables written by the French author Florian in the eighteenth century; this Project Gutenberg edition is an e-book in the original French. Florian's fables follow the La Fontaine tradition: they are short and mostly use animal stories to convey observations on human affairs and morality, in a clear style with the poetry and restraint of classical French. For French learners, it is a light reader for encountering eighteenth-century French verse and building literary vocabulary; for lovers of fable literature, it offers another French fable sample besides La Fontaine. Because the whole book is in French and in verse, it is harder to read than prose, and beginners should use notes or a parallel translation. It suits fragmented reading, one or two fables a day, without seeking a continuous plot. Overall, it is a small classical fable collection suited to slow reading and repeated savoring.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with some French who want to read classical verse
Readers interested in French fable literature who want texts beyond La Fontaine
Literature lovers who enjoy short animal fables and can read in fragments
Students studying eighteenth-century French language and style

Not a good fit for

Beginners with no French who need a Chinese translation
Readers expecting a long, continuous narrative
Young readers looking for children's fables with phonetic annotation

Reading tips

Read one or two fables a day: go through the verse first, then look up new words, keeping a light pace.
Read aloud to feel the rhythm and rhyme of French verse; this works better than silent reading.
Keep a notebook and record recurring fable vocabulary and moral metaphors.
Read alongside La Fontaine's fables to see how different writers within the same tradition handle their material.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in French or Chinese?

The Project Gutenberg edition is in the original French, with no Chinese translation, so some ability to read French is required.

What is the relationship between Florian's fables and La Fontaine?

Florian was an eighteenth-century French fable writer whose work follows the French fable tradition begun by La Fontaine, but with its own features in subject matter and tone; the two can be read in comparison.

Can someone with no French read this book?

Not very well. The whole book is in French verse, which is quite difficult without any French; it is better to use a bilingual edition or Chinese translation to understand the content first, then try the original.

Is it suitable to read in one sitting?

Not necessarily. The fables are short and independent, better read one or two a day to savor the language and meaning slowly; reading straight through can easily lose the rhythm.

Comments

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About the author

Florian, 1755-1794 Author

Florian (1755–1794) was a French writer whose biographical details are sparsely documented in publicly available sources. Judging from the three works held in this collection, his writing spanned fable, history and fiction. Fables de Florian continues the European fable tradition, using brief animal stories to convey worldly wisdom in a clear and graceful style. History of the Moors of Spain turns to historical subject matter, recounting the rise and fall of the Moors in Spain with an emphasis on readability. The adventures of Alphonso and Marina: An Interesting Spanish Tale is a Spanish-set adventure story with a twisting plot and a sentimental, romantic flavour. Though diverse in subject, the three works all show his gift for engaging readers through simple, fluent narration and for weaving moral lessons into his stories. His fables have had a certain influence in French literature and are often included in fable anthologies. Because public information is limited, this note can only sketch his writing on the basis of these works.