MLA Texts and Translations
There are 82 products in MLA Texts and Translations
Lettres d’une Péruvienne
One of the most popular works of the eighteenth century, Lettres d’une Péruvienne appeared in more than 130 editions, reprints, and translations during the hundred years following its publication in 1747. In the novel the Inca princess Zilia is kidnapped by Spanish conquerors, captured by the French after a battle at sea, and taken to Europe. Graffigny’s brilliant novel offered a bold critique of French society, delivered one of the most vehement feminist protests in eighteenth-century literature, and announced—fourteen years before Rousseau’s Julie, or the New Eloise—the Romantic tradition in French literature.
Letters of Mistress Henley Published by Her Friend
Considered by many scholars to be among the most brilliant novels written in French during the eighteenth century, Letters of Mistress Henley Published by Her Friend was composed as a response to Samuel de Constant’s misogynist novel, The Sentimental Husband (1783). Charrière presents six letters penned by a Mistress Henley, who has chosen a decent and affectionate man as her life’s companion only to discover that she cannot bear sharing his life. An immediate success on its publication in 1784, Mistress Henley was greeted with acclaim and controversy: one reader called the book “literarily excellent” but “morally dangerous in various ways.” Remarkable for its empathy for both spouses, Mistress Henley is not only a moving work of fiction but also one of the most modern novels of its day.
Lettres de Mistriss Henley publiées par son amie
Considered by many scholars to be among the most brilliant novels written in French during the eighteenth century, Lettres de Mistriss Henley publiées par son amie was composed as a response to Samuel de Constant’s misogynist novel, The Sentimental Husband (1783). Charrière presents six letters penned by a Mistriss Henley, who has chosen a decent and affectionate man as her life’s companion only to discover that she cannot bear sharing his life. An immediate success on its publication in 1784, Mistriss Henley was greeted with acclaim and controversy: one reader called the book “literarily excellent” but “morally dangerous in various ways.” Remarkable for its empathy for both spouses, Mistriss Henley is not only a moving work of fiction but also one of the most modern novels of its day.
The Life of Saint Eufrosine: In Old French Verse, with English Translation
As a young woman from a wealthy family, Eufrosine was expected to marry a nobleman. Instead, she wanted to serve God. So she cut her hair, dressed as a man, and traveled to a monastery, becoming a monk named Emerald.
Adapted from a Latin source, this saint’s life dates to about 1200 CE. Devout yet erotic, lyrical yet didactic, it blends hagiography with romance and epic in order to engage and inspire a broad audience. The tale invites readers to rethink preconceived notions of the Middle Ages, the relation between spiritual and secular values, and ideas about the history of sexuality, identity, and family.
Only fragments of the poem have been previously translated. This edition includes the first full translation alongside the Old French original as well as a glossary and other supporting material.
Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife
Adolphe Belot was the envy of his contemporaries Émile Zola and Gustave Flaubert: his books, unlike theirs, were best-sellers. He specialized in popular fiction that provided readers with just the right mix of salaciousness and propriety. (Under the initials A. B. he dispensed entirely with propriety.)
The sensational Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife (published in 1870 with a preface by Zola) tells of the suffering of a naive young man whose new bride will not agree to consummate the marriage. Eventually he learns from an acquaintance, to his amazement, that their wives are lovers. In the pitched battle between husband and wife, the sexes are evenly matched—until the end.
Christopher Rivers argues in his introduction that the protagonist’s homophobic attitude toward lesbianism is ironically linked to his intimate homosocial bonds with men. This example of commercial fiction, Rivers argues, reveals tensions in nineteenth-century French society not apparent in canonical works of high culture.
Mademoiselle Giraud, ma femme
Adolphe Belot was the envy of his contemporaries Émile Zola and Gustave Flaubert: his books, unlike theirs, were best-sellers. He specialized in popular fiction that provided readers with just the right mix of salaciousness and propriety. (Under the initials A. B. he dispensed entirely with propriety.)
The sensational Mademoiselle Giraud, ma femme (published in 1870 with a preface by Zola) tells of the suffering of a naive young man whose new bride will not agree to consummate the marriage. Eventually he learns from an acquaintance, to his amazement, that their wives are lovers. In the pitched battle between husband and wife, the sexes are evenly matched—until the end.
Christopher Rivers argues in his introduction that the protagonist’s homophobic attitude toward lesbianism is ironically linked to his intimate homosocial bonds with men. This example of commercial fiction, Rivers argues, reveals tensions in nineteenth-century French society not apparent in canonical works of high culture.
Miracles of Love
Before children's stories came to exemplify the French fairy tale, early modern audiences read the works of women writers known as conteuses. From the late seventeenth century through the Revolution, the conteuses published rich, complex tales that were popular in literary salons and elite courtly settings.
These unpredictable works feature candid representations of female desire, strong support for the education of women, and surprising twists on the fairy tale formulas familiar to readers of Charles Perrault. Not only witty and entertaining, the tales also comment on the unfair treatment of women that the authors saw in society, history, and myth.
Brief biographies introduce to new audiences writers who challenged social conventions, won popular and critical acclaim, and defined the fairy tale genre in their own time.
Prodiges d’amour
Before children's stories came to exemplify the French fairy tale, early modern audiences read the works of women writers known as conteuses. From the late seventeenth century through the Revolution, the conteuses published rich, complex tales that were popular in literary salons and elite courtly settings.
These unpredictable works feature candid representations of female desire, strong support for the education of women, and surprising twists on the fairy tale formulas familiar to readers of Charles Perrault. Not only witty and entertaining, the tales also comment on the unfair treatment of women that the authors saw in society, history, and myth.
Brief biographies introduce to new audiences writers who challenged social conventions, won popular and critical acclaim, and defined the fairy tale genre in their own time.
An Anthology of Modern Italian Poetry
Italian poetry of the last century is far from homogeneous: genres and movements have often been at odds with one another, engaging the economic, political, and social tensions of post-Unification Italy. The thirty-eight poets included in this anthology, some of whose poems are translated here for the first time, represent this literary diversity and competition: there are symbolists (Gabriele D’Annunzio), free-verse satirists (Gian Pietro Lucini), hermetic poets (Salvatore Quasimodo), feminist poets (Sibilla Aleramo), twilight poets (Sergio Corazzini), fragmentists (Camillo Sbarbaro), new lyricists (Eugenio Montale), neo-avant-gardists (Alfredo Giuliani), and neorealists (Pier Paolo Pasolini)—among many others.
Ned Condini was born in Turin, Italy; studied in Italy and England; and lives in North Carolina. He is the author of poetry, short stories, and novels. He won the Renato Poggioli Award from PEN American Center for his translation of Italian poetry.
The introduction and notes were provided by Dana Renga, assistant professor of Italian at Ohio State University.
Poets in the volume: Sibilla Aleramo, Carlo Betocchi, Dino Campana, Cristina Campo, Giorgio Caproni, Vincenzo Cardarelli, Sergio Corazzini, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Milo De Angelis, Luigi Fontanella, Franco Fortini, Alfredo Giuliani, Corrado Govoni, Guido Gozzano, Amalia Guglielminetti, Giorgio Guglielmino, Gian Pietro Lucini, Mario Luzi, Valerio Magrelli, Anna Malfaiera, Fausto Maria Martini, Eugenio Montale, Arturo Onofri, Aldo Palazzeschi, Alfredo de Palchi, Giovanni Pascoli, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Sandro Penna, Antonia Pozzi, Salvatore Quasimodo, Amelia Rosselli, Umberto Saba, Roberto Sanesi, Edoardo Sanguineti, Camillo Sbarbaro, Maria Luisa Spaziani, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Andrea Zanzotto
An Anthology of Modern Urdu Poetry
Currently spoken by almost 250 million people in Pakistan and India and the second most widely spoken language in Britain, Urdu has one of the richest literatures of all south Asian languages. The modern Urdu poets presented in this book offer a fascinating range of forms and styles that grew out of that tradition, as well as a complex commentary on the experience—personal, religious, cultural, political—of the issues and dilemmas of the twentieth century. In his introduction, M. A. R. Habib outlines the history of Urdu literature, identifies the major poets associated with the classical tradition, discusses some Western influences, and describes the formal genres of the poetry (the qasida, the masnavi, and the marisiya forms of the longer poems; the qit’a, the rubai, and the ghazal forms of the shorter poems). Together, the commentary and the poems in this volume provide an informed introduction to major modern trends in Urdu poetry.