Preversities: A Jacques Prevert Sampler (Black Widow Press Translations) (English and French Edition)

I had no idea that Jacques Prevert existed until my French friend posted a photo of a vase of lilacs on May Day with the verse: "Mais le lilas tu l'as appelé lilas Lilas c'est tout à fait ça Lilas lilas" (But the lilac you called lilac Lilac it was exactly that Lilac... Lilac...) Then I found the Jacques Prevert wrote the words to "Autumn Leaves" that every singer from Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra and Eric Clapton and Edith Piaf has sung. Since my French is so poor, I am grateful for the English translation on the opposite page. What pleasure! Finally, my finding Jacques Prevert led me to his friend Izis.

Jacques Prévert is one of France's leading folk poets, filmmakers and fairy tale writers, and is well known in Japan for writing the lyrics for Chanson's "Autumn Leaves" and the scenario for the movie "Children of Paradise". I bought this book because I was impressed by the poetic world of the movie "Children of Paradise", and I felt that the English translation was wonderful and well represented the mental landscape he drew.

Whenever one reads anything about Prevert, it's to read that he was one of France's most popular and beloved poets of the 20th century. Poetry is not always easy fodder; poets don't easily become "popular" in the sense of quantity of fans. But Prevert's poetry - a wide range, from short and simple to longer and deeper and wrenching - allows one to understand how his poetry and writing, also reflected in songs and film, allows one to relax and enjoy, rather than be frustrated by any pretense and unnecessary complexity (there is complexity - but not created for its own sake).I'm glad to understand the French; as I found the 'side-by-side' translations to, sometimes, oddly veer from what could have been a fairly direct translation in order to try and capture the spirit and 'song' of the original. The translator adds the occasional footnote to explain some divergences, and one can understand the desire to move beyond 'word for word' to create Prevert in English. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.Nonetheless, if this becomes the one translation of Prevert's poetry that you read, it's a fine exploration of some wonderful poetry.

For English speakers whose first acquaintance with the writing of Jacques Prevert was a copy of "Paroles," poetry published in 1945, "Preversities: A Jacques Prevert Sampler" will come as both a delight and a revelation. This substantial anthology, edited and translated by Norman Shapiro, starts with several selections from "Paroles." It then moves all the way up to Prevert's 1972 "Choses et Autres," published five years before his death, and "Soleil de Nuit," published posthumously. Poetry predominates in this bi-lingual volume, but it is accompanied as well by fables and other short texts. Happily, the fact that a long chronological sample is included means that the reader is able to move beyond the often dark mood of the wartime "Paroles" collection.Shapiro has brought to his handling of Prevert's work a relatively free interpretative style by sometimes rearranging the sequence of lines and frequently adding nuance based on contextual understandings. In one case, for example, where Prevert had used the word "femme" twice to refer to a "woman," Shapiro changed the second translation to "dame" to drive home the point that this later reference described an elderly lady.

There ought to be a law that all translations of poems should be accompanied by the original text. Here is a book of this kind: A chance to know the (probably) most popular French poet of them all. - My favorite poem is the five-line verse LE LÉZARD, THE LIZARD OF LOVE. A tear with a smile, a striking simile...Everyone who loves poetry should love Prévert. Éxtra bonus: You can favorably impress most persons from the francophone world by mentioning Prévert. About the poet himself and his work, Wikipedia has the basic information.

I was simply thrilled to find this collection. However, I found this translation of Paroles, as compared to the Lawrence Ferlinghetti translation, to be a little less romantic.

The poems are great, the translations suck and are dorky

Bruno, Chief of Police liked it and so do I.

One might not always like every choice made by the translator in trying to make Prévert sound English but I don't feel minded to carp. This is a very generous helping of the popular Frenchman's verse and one must applaud the Black Widow Press for another useful addition to their catalogue of modern poetry from across the Channel.