Jean de La Fontaine

Marie-Thérèse Oubrier Austin (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.03: French Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century: Classical and Baroque, 1600-1700.
Vol. editors: Heather Kirk (University of Western Ontario), Kathrina LaPorta (New York University), Polly Mangerson (DePaul University), Julia Prest (University of St Andrews), Allison Stedman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 8 Jul 1621
Died 13 Apr 1695
Activity 1668-1695

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Genres and Modes

Fable

Activities

Primary

Poet

Other

Letter-writer/ Diarist
Librettist
Playwright / Dramatist

Resources

La Fontaine's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Jean de La Fontaine has been immortalised through his Fables. He is the undisputed master of the genre because he gave this ancient form, considered minor at the time he wrote, a renewed vigour unequalled to this day. Owing to his vivid language and narrative momentum, and also to his allusive references to contemporary issues, La Fontaine’s achievement with his

Fables

can be said to rank with the comedies of Molière. The scope of their subject matter and their detached moralising stance are reminiscent of Pascal’s aphoristic

Pensées

, but their true originality and strength reside in the universal appeal of their distinctive poetic style. La Fontaine widens the fable convention of animals impersonating humans by depicting eternal truths about the human condition with a subtle and…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2627 words

Citation: Oubrier Austin, Marie-Thérèse. "Jean de La Fontaine". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 October 2006; last revised 27 June 2019. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2583, accessed 23 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article