LAFONTAIN JEAN DE - French writer, member of the French Academy (1684).
You come from a pro-win-tsi-al bourgeois family. In 1641, he entered the Saint-Mag-lu-ar-se-mi-na-riu in Pa-ri-zhe, but did not finish studying, turning to literary work -wha-st-wu. He began writing poetry in 1643, under the leadership of F. Ma-ler-bu, later became interested in anti-tich-ny-mi av-to-ra-mi, pre -properly Roman-ski-mi. In 1645-1647 he studied law in Pa-ri-zhe, kept acquaintance with A. Fu-ret-er, J. Sha-p-le -nom, V. Kon-ra-rom and others. In 1647, the father gave La Fontaine his position of overseeing the waters and forests of Cha-to-Thierry. Lafontaine's first published work is the comedy "Eu-nukh" ("L"eunuque, 1654), re-worked by the same name plays Te-ren-tion, - had no us-pe-ha.
Moved to Paris in 1657, through the patronage of the clan-st-ve-n-ka, he became one of the li-te-ra-to-rov, the Polish signed by N. Fu-ke; presented him with an emu “Ado-nis” (“Adonis”, 1658), in which, under the influence of Ovid, he felt mo influence of J. Ma-ri-no. In the unfinished al-le-gorical poem “Dream in Vaux” (“Songe de Vaux”, 1558-1561) he described the art-hi-tech-tur-no-par- en-assembly of the castle of Fou-que in Vaux-le-Vie-comte; in the elegy “Aux nymphes de Vaux” (“Aux nymphes de Vaux”, 1662) and “Ode Ko-ro-lu...” (“Ode au roi...”, 1663) pro-force Lu-do-vi-ka XIV about condescending to his disgraced blood. In 1663, J. Jean-na-ra, a friend of Fu-ke, was sent from Paris to the province of Li-mu-zen; a literary report about this trip entitled “Description of one pu-te-she-st-viya from Pa-ri-zha to Li-mu-zen” (“Relation d 'un voyage de Paris en Limousin", 1663) na-pi-san in the form of pi-same-not, where about-for-che-du-et-sya with sti-ha-mi.
La Fontaine's collections “Tales...” (“Contes...”, 1664, 1665, 1671, 1674), containing re-re-lo-same-hourly all-ma-fri-free-of-the-same-tov, for-im-st-in-van-nyh from factories, as well as from pro-from -ve-de-niy J. Bok-kach-cho, L. Ario-sto, N. Ma-kia-vel-li, F. Rab-le, Mar-ga-ri-ty Na-varr-skoy, etc. La Fontaine's canon of poetic novella (“fairy tales”), developed by Lafontaine, was later used by J. B. J. Ville-la-rom de Gré-ku-rom, J. Vergier, Vol-te-rom and others. World-wide knowledge of the “Bass” nor" La Fontaine ("Fables", books 1--2, 1668-1694), in which he used the same themes of Ezo-pa, Phèd-ra, K. Ma -ro, M. Re-nier et al.
La Fontaine developed the bass genre, which was considered “low-key”, os-la-beating its didactic orientation and giving it uv-le-ka- tel-ny ha-rak-ter. Describe different types of li-tse-mers, shche-go-leys, flatterers, pe-dan-tovs, deceivers, misers , ignorant, etc. and re-created many life-situations, Lafontaine in the spirit of class-si-tsiz-ma races-cri-ti-ko -Val human-like things from the point of view of reason and common sense. La Fontaine's story “The Love of Psi-hei and Ku-pi-do-na” (“Les amours de Psyché et de Cupi-don”, 1669), based on a plot from ro -ma-na Apu-ley “Me-ta-mor-fo-zy”, dedicated to the Duke of Bui-on, with whom Lafontaine lived in Pa- ri-zhe; Ancient Greek plot, under-lit al-lu-zia-mi on modernity, become-a-vis-at-the-house to discuss-questions is-kus-st-va.
Lafontaine also wrote the same significant influence on the religious “Eme about the captivity of St. Mal-ha” (“Poème de la captivité de saint Malc”, 1671); didactic poem “Khi-na” (“Quinquina”, 1682) about le-che-nii li-ho-rad-ki and others. In co-author-st-ve with co- media-gra-fom Sh. le Roman comique", 1684; according to mo-ti-you "Ko-mi-che-sko-go-ro-ma-na" by P. Scar-ro-na), "Flo-ren-ti-ets" (" Le flo-rentin”, 1685) and “The Magic Cube” (“La coupe enchantée”, 1686), as well as the libretto of the opera “As-t-reya” (“Ast-rée”, 1691; music by P. Ko-las-sa) after the mo-ti-you of the same name by O. d’Urfe.
In Russia, the work of Lafontaine has been widely known since the 18th century. Some “fairy tales” have been published in journals, but La Fontaine is known as “free-willed” go av-to-ra” for-tmi-li his bas-ni. Their re-re-vo-di-li and re-re-ra-ba-you-va-li V. K. Tre-dia-kov-sky, A. P. Su-ma-ro-kov, D. I. Fon-vi-zin, I. I. Khem-nitser, I. I. Dmit-ri-ev, D. I. Khvo-stov, K. N. Batyush-kov, V. A. Zhu-kov-sky, I. A. Kry-lov and others. The story “Love of Psi-hei and Ku-pi-do-na” was published in translation by F. I. Dmit-rie-va- Ma-mo-no-va (1769), with co-storage-ne-ni-em pro-zi-met-ri-che-skoy structure-tu-ry ori-gi-na-la, but without “about” -ram-lya-shchi” is-to-rii four friends in the Versailles gardens; I. F. Bo-gda-no-vich created it in full poetic translation in ma-ne-re ro-ko-ko (“Du-shen-ka Ancient message", 1783).
Essays:
Œuvres diverses. P., 1958
Love Psi-hei and Ku-pi-do-na. M.; L., 1964
Œuvres com-pletes. P., 1991; Bass-ni. M., 1999.
Jean La Fontaine (French: Jean de La Fontaine) - famous French fabulist; genus. in 1621 in Château-Thierry, died in 1695
His father served in the forestry department, and Lafontaine spent his childhood among forests and fields. At the age of twenty he entered the Oratorian brotherhood (Oratoire) to prepare for the clergy, but was more interested in philosophy and poetry.
More flies drown in honey than in vinegar.
Lafontaine Jean
In 1647, Jean La Fontaine's father transferred his position to him and convinced him to marry a 15-year-old girl. He took his new responsibilities, both official and family, very lightly, and soon left for Paris, where he lived his whole life among friends, admirers and admirers of his talent; He forgot about his family for years and only occasionally, at the insistence of friends, went to his homeland for a short time.
His correspondence with his wife, whom he made the confidant of his many romantic adventures, has been preserved. He paid so little attention to his children that, having met his adult son in the same house, he did not recognize him. In Paris, Lafontaine was a brilliant success; Fouquet gave him a large pension as payment for one poem a month; the entire aristocracy patronized him, and he knew how to remain independent and gracefully mocking, even amid the flattering panegyrics with which he showered his patrons.
The first poems that transformed Jean La Fontaine from a salon poet into a first-class poet were written by him in 1661 and were inspired by sympathy for the sad fate of his friend Fouquet. It was “Elegy to the Nymphs of Vaux” (Elégie aux nymphes de Vaux), in which he ardently interceded with Louis XIV on behalf of the disgraced dignitary. He lived in Paris, first with the Duchess of Bouillon, then, for more than 20 years, at the hotel Madame de Sablière; when the latter died and he left her house, he met his friend d'Hervart, who invited him to live with him. “That’s exactly where I was heading,” was the fabulist’s naive answer.
Of our enemies, we often need to fear the smallest ones the most.
Lafontaine Jean
In 1659-65. Jean La Fontaine was an active member of the circle of “five friends” - Moliere, L., Boileau, Racine and Chappelle, and maintained friendly relations with everyone even after the break between other members of the circle. Among his friends were also Conde, La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Sevigny and others; only he did not have access to the court, since Louis XIV did not like a frivolous poet who did not recognize any responsibilities. This slowed down La Fontaine's election to the academy, of which he became a member only in 1684. Under the influence of Madame de Sablier, La Fontaine, in the last years of his life, became a believer, remaining, however, a frivolous and absent-minded poet, for whom only his poetry was serious. The significance of Jean La Fontaine for the history of literature lies in the fact that he created a new genre, borrowing from ancient authors only the external plot of fables. The creation of this new genre of semi-lyrical, semi-philosophical fables is determined by the individual character of La Fontaine, who sought a free poetic form to reflect his artistic nature.
These searches were not immediately successful. His first work was La Gioconda (Joconde, 1666), a frivolous and witty imitation of Ariosto; This was followed by a whole series of “fairy tales”, extremely obscene. In 1668, the first six books of fables appeared, under the modest title: “Aesop’s Fables, translated into verse by M. La Fontaine” (Fables d’Esope, mises en vers par M. de La Fontaine); The 2nd edition, which already contained 11 books, was published in 1678, and the 3rd, with the inclusion of the 12th and last book, in 1694. The first two books are more didactic in nature; in the rest, Jean La Fontaine becomes more and more free, mixes moral teaching with the transfer of personal feelings and, instead of illustrating, for example, this or that ethical truth, he mostly conveys some kind of mood.
Jean La Fontaine is least of all a moralist and, in any case, his morality is not sublime; he teaches a sober outlook on life, the ability to use circumstances and people, and constantly depicts the triumph of the clever and cunning over the simple-minded and kind; There is absolutely no sentimentality in it - his heroes are those who know how to arrange their own destiny. But it is not in this crude, utilitarian morality that the meaning of Jean La Fontaine's fables lies. They are great for their artistic merit; the author created in them “a comedy in a hundred acts, bringing to the stage the whole world and all living beings in their mutual relationships.” He understood people and nature; reproducing the mores of society, he did not smash them like a preacher, but looked for the funny or touching in them. In contrast to his age, he saw animals not as mechanical creatures, but as a living world, with a rich and varied psychology. All nature lives in his fables. Under the guise of the animal kingdom, he, of course, draws the human kingdom, and draws subtly and accurately; but at the same time, his animal types are extremely self-possessed and artistic in themselves.
Every flatterer lives at the expense of the one who listens to him.
Lafontaine Jean
The artistic significance of Jean La Fontaine's fables is also contributed by the beauty of La Fontaine's poetic introductions and digressions, his figurative language, free verse, special art of conveying movement and feelings with rhythm, and in general the amazing richness and variety of poetic form. A tribute to gallant literature was the prose work of Jean La Fontaine - the story “The Love of Psyche and Cupid” (Les amours de Psyché et de Cupidon), which is a reworking of Apuleius’ tale about Cupid and Psyche from his novel “The Golden Ass”.
born July 8, 1621 at Chateau Thierry. His father was an insignificant official and a poor man. The future poet studied first at a village school, then at a college in Reims. Since he was supposed to inherit the position of tax collector from his father, he also studied law for some time.
La Fontaine read Homer, Virgil, Terence, Ariosto, Boccaccio, admired Clément Marot and François Rabelais (he called them respectfully: Maître Clement and Maître François), read Marguerite of Navarre and Durfey’s “Astraea,” and loved Voiture.
La Fontaine began writing late, at the age of thirty-three, in 1654. He published the comedy “The Eunuch” - a work still a student, the fruit of his readings of Terence. Introduced to the then influential minister Fouquet, he was treated kindly by the latter, received a pension and, having sold his position and real estate in Chateau Thierry, moved permanently to Paris. Here La Fontaine became close to Boileau, Moliere and Racine (the latter was 18 years younger than him). He loved his friends so much that he placed them under the names Arista (Boileau), Gelasta (Molière), Acanthus (Racine) in his novel “The Love Adventures of Psyche.” His “Poetic Tales and Stories” were published in 1665, and “Selected Fables in Verse” in 1668. La Fontaine was very simple-minded, naive, and sometimes extremely forgetful and absent-minded in everyday affairs. Presented to the king, with whom he sought an audience in order to present him with a volume of his poems, he was forced to admit that he had forgotten the book at home.
His frivolous short stories, written in the spirit of Boccaccio, earned him the displeasure of the church and the king, who at one time opposed the poet’s election to the Academy. There were many jokes about him; they said that he loved only three things in the world - poetry, idleness and women. The latter was associated with his frivolous short stories. Lafontaine did not argue.
La Fontaine died on April 13, 1695, in the seventy-fourth year of his life, but his works survived. His fables are international. Their plots are in most cases similar, many of them originate from the prosaic fables of the semi-legendary Greek fabulist Aesop. Often the main idea of a fable - edification, "moral" - is the same with the same plots. However, everyone
people bring their own, original, peculiar to the presentation
fable plot. In La Fontaine we will find fables known to us from other sources about the raven and the fox, the wolf and the lamb, the dragonfly and the ant, and many others.
“Of course, not a single Frenchman would dare to place anyone above La Fontaine,” wrote Pushkin, “but we, it seems, can prefer Krylov to him. Both of them will forever remain favorites of their fellow Earthmen. Someone rightly noted that simplicity is an innate property of the French people; on the contrary, distinguishing feature in our morals there is some kind of cheerful slyness of mind, mockery and a picturesque way of expressing ourselves: La Fontaine and Krylov are representatives of the spirit of both peoples.” La Fontaine's political fables are by no means harmless. They are quite sarcastic and reveal his democratic sympathies.
La Fontaine's fables are folk in their light, elegant humor, so characteristic of the French people, in the common folk sense invested in them, but they are to a certain extent refined, gallant and therefore sometimes somewhat salon-like. This is how, for example, the fox argues in the fable “The Wolf and the Fox” (the fox sits in a bucket at the bottom of a well, where she unwisely sank, looking for some profit, and now persuades the wolf to take her place, because she can’t finish eating cheese located there): “Comrade, I want to treat you, do you see this object? This is a special cheese. God Faun prepared it. The cow Io gave her milk, even to Jupiter, and even if he were sick, he would have developed an appetite for this dish.” As we see, the fox is very learned; obviously, the wolf is no less knowledgeable in ancient mythology, since the fox turned to him with similar literary reminiscences.
In La Fontaine's fables we will find literary names. The names of Molière's Tartuffe and the medieval lawyer Patelen are already used here as well-known household names. “The cat and the fox, like two little saints, went on a pilgrimage. They were two Tartuffes, two Archipatelens, two sneaks...” - this is how the fable “The Cat and the Fox” begins.
La Fontaine's fables are philosophical. In one of them he reflects on genius and the crowd. Epicurus was considered crazy in his homeland. Compatriots turned to Hippocrates, the famous physician, asking him to cure the philosopher Democritus from madness. “He lost his mind, reading ruined him... What is he saying? – The world is endless... This is not enough for him. He also talks about some atoms,” lament the simple-minded Abderites, calling on Hippocrates.
The subject of fables is often not only the vices of people, but psychological observations, quite in the spirit of La Rochefoucauld or La Bruyère. In the fable “Husband, Wife and Thief,” he talks about how a certain husband, deeply in love with his wife, did not, however, enjoy her favor. The unfortunate husband found neither a flattering comment, nor a tender look, nor a word of friendship, nor a sweet smile in his wife. But then one day she herself threw herself into his arms. It turns out that the thief scared her, and, fleeing from him, she resorted to the protection of her husband. For the first time, the husband in love knew true happiness and, grateful, allowed the thief to take whatever he wanted. “Fear is sometimes the strongest feeling and even disgust overcomes,” Lafontaine concludes his fable. - However, love is stronger. An example is this lover who would burn down his house just to kiss his lady and carry her out of the flames. I like this hobby,” he further adds.
The fable of the “old lion” is about humiliation, or rather, the limits of humiliation that a person can withstand. There is a limit to everything, and the most terrible humiliation is an insult inflicted by a being despised. The lion, the thunderstorm and terror of the forests, has grown old under the weight of years, he grieves, mourning his former power, and is persecuted even by his subjects, “who became strong through his weakness.” The horse kicked him with its hoof, the wolf lashed out with its teeth, and the bull stabbed him with its horn. The lion, unable to even roar, silently endures beatings and insults, meekly awaiting death. But then the donkey headed towards him. “Oh, this is too much! - exclaimed the lion. “I’m ready to die, but to be subjected to your beatings doesn’t mean dying twice.”
In another fable, he talks about how Love and Madness, once playing together, argued, quarreled and fought. Lyubov received such a strong blow to the head that she lost her sight. The gods gathered, among them Jupiter and Nemesis. What to do? How to help blinded Love? And they decided to give Love an eternal companion - the guide Madness.
The spirit of cheerful simplicity reigns in La Fontaine's poetic short stories. human relations and sensuality. Here the sky is cloudless, the sun caresses and warms, but does not burn, here people are not evil, tolerant of human weaknesses, and not vindictive. They indulge in sorrow, but not for long, because the world is beautiful, and if there are shortcomings, then a person still cannot correct them, and they are not that great. In a word, why darken yourself with sadness if there are several small spots in the sun?
Pushkin appreciated this cheerful, light, graceful playfulness of the fairy tales and short stories of the French poet. In January 1825, he wrote to Ryleev from Mikhailovsky. “Bestuzhev writes to me a lot about Onegin - tell him that he is wrong: does he really want to expel everything light and cheerful from poetry?” - and here Pushkin mentions Ariosto, Voltaire (“The Virgin of Orleans”) and La Fontaine’s “Fairy Tales”.
The plot of the short stories is borrowed either from Margaret of Navarre, or from Boccaccio, or from Ariosto. They do not contain the somewhat rude but powerful thought of the Renaissance; they are frivolous, seasoned with light wit and gallant periphrases, fashionable in the salons of the 17th century. This is the spicy short story “La Gioconda”, in the spirit of Arabian fairy tales, written in light, elegant verse.
Some short stories are very short, a few lines of poetry. These are rather short stories-anecdotes, the whole sharpness of which lies in unexpected logical turns. This is the short story “Sister Zhanna”. A certain Zhanna gave birth to a child as a girl and, in order to atone for her sin, she retired to a monastery. There she indulged in intense piety and with her religious zeal attracted the attention of the abbess. She called the nuns to her and told them: “Be as zealous in serving God as Sister Jeanne.” “If we did the same as she did, oh, then we would also be diligent,” the nuns answered her with a sigh.
The ministers of the church are subjected to subtle ridicule here. However, this is by no means an overthrow of the church, which was characteristic of the humanists of the 16th century, who protested decisively and bitterly against religious asceticism and advocated for the rehabilitation of the flesh and natural human inclinations. It is rather an elegant libertineism, an easy freethinking, which was also treated condescendingly in aristocratic circles, especially in the circles of some former frondeurs.
But Lafontaine is not an aristocrat. His sympathy for the common man is undeniable. This is evidenced, for example, by the short story “A Peasant Who Offended His Master.”
Lafontaine was accused by the clergy of forgetting all moral norms. Even during the sanctimonious period of the Bourbon restoration, already in the 19th century (1815–1830), his name served as a synonym for depravity. Stendhal in his novel “The Red and the Black” cites the following very expressive episode from the salon life of the French province during the Restoration. Julien Sorel, amid a general roar of approval from the royalists, in Renal's house calls La Fontaine's fables immoral. This was not the point of view of the hero of the novel, but he knew what his owners needed.
Voltaire wrote in defense of the poet: “One can apply to La Fontaine his wonderful fable “Beasts in the Time of Plague,” which repent of their sins. Everything is forgiven to lions, wolves and bears, but they are not forgiven to an innocent animal who ate a little
herbs."
Start literary activity
Jean de La Fontaine was born on July 8, 1621 in the small town of Chateau-Thierry (France), in the family of a provincial official. Since childhood, Lafontaine had a rebellious and daring character. His father served as a royal forester, and La Fontaine spent his childhood among forests and fields. Then his father sent him to study law at the Oratoire Seminary in Paris, but young Jean was mainly interested in philosophy and poetry.
Returning to his father's estate in Champagne, at the age of 26 he married 14-year-old Marie Ericard. The marriage was not the most successful, and La Fontaine, neglecting family responsibilities, went to Paris in 1647 with the intention of completely devoting himself to literary activity, where he lived his whole life among friends, admirers and admirers of his talent; He completely forgot about his family, not seeing his wife for years, writing letters to her from time to time. Meanwhile, from his correspondence with his wife, it becomes clear that he made her the confidant of his many romantic adventures, without hiding anything from her. How poor Marie felt at the same time is not easy to imagine. Only occasionally, at the insistence of friends, did he go home for a short time. He paid so little attention to his children that, when he met his adult son in the same house, he did not recognize him.
Epigram on the bond of marriage
Marry? How wrong! What's more painful than marriage?
Exchange the blessings of a free life for slavery!
The second one who married was certainly a fool,
And the first one - what can I say? - he was just a poor fellow.
They tell this joke. One day, his wife came into his office and found her husband sobbing over a manuscript. When asked about the cause of grief, the husband, in an intermittent voice, read a chapter from the story in which the hero cannot unite with his beloved. La Fontaine's wife also began to cry and began to ask:
- Make sure they are still together!
“I can’t,” answered my husband, “I’m still writing only the first volume.”
La Fontaine led an active social life, indulging in entertainment and love affairs, continuing to receive income from the hereditary position of “guardian of waters and forests,” which he lost in 1674 by order of Minister Colbert.
In Paris, the young poet came to court, becoming close to a circle of young writers who called themselves “Knights of the Round Table” and considered Jean Chaplin, one of the founders of the classicist doctrine, to be the highest authority. Under the influence of friends, he translated Terence's comedy "The Eunuch" (1654). His interest in theater remained throughout his life, but he found his true calling in small poetic genres. His tales and fables, filled with bright images, enjoyed continued success. La Fontaine's fables are remarkable for their variety, rhythmic perfection, and deep realism. Subsequently, some of La Fontaine's fables were talentedly translated into Russian by I. A. Krylov.
In 1658, he managed to find a patron in the person of the Minister of Finance Fouquet, to whom the poet dedicated several poems - including the poem "Adonis" (1658), written under the influence of Ovid, Virgil and, possibly, Marino, and the famous "Elegy to the Nymphs in Vaud" (1662), and who awarded the poet a large pension. Having temporarily become the “official” poet of Fouquet, La Fontaine took up the description of the palace in Vaux-le-Vicomte that belonged to the minister.
Since it was necessary to describe the not yet completed architectural and park ensemble, La Fontaine built his poem in the form of a dream (Songe de Vaux). However, due to Fouquet's disgrace, work on the book was interrupted. After the fall of Fouquet, Lafontaine, unlike many, did not renounce the disgraced nobleman. In 1662, the poet allowed himself to stand up for his patron in an ode addressed to the king (l'Ode au Roi), as well as in "Elegy to the Nymphs of Vaux" (L "elégie aux nymphes de Vaux). By this act, he apparently brought suffered the wrath of Colbert and the king, which is why he had to go into short-term exile in 1663. Upon returning to Paris, he won the favor of the Duchess of Bouillon - the mistress of the salon, where aristocrats gathered in opposition to the court, then, when the latter died, and he left her house, he met his acquaintance d'Hervart, who invited him to live with him: “That's where I was heading,” was the naive answer of the fabulist.
The version that in 1659-1665 La Fontaine maintained friendly relations with Moliere, Boileau and Racine looks dubious. Among La Fontaine's friends were definitely the Prince of Condé, La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Lafayette and others; only he did not have access to the royal court, since Louis XIV did not like a frivolous poet who did not recognize any duties. This delayed La Fontaine's election to the French Academy, of which he only became a member in 1684. During the “dispute about ancient and modern,” La Fontaine, not without hesitation, took the side of the former.
Publication of the first collection
In 1665, La Fontaine published his first collection, “Stories in Verse,” and then “Fairy Tales and Stories in Verse.” “Fairy Tales” began to be published in 1664. The first collection included two fairy tales - “Giocondo” (Joconde) and “The Beaten and Satisfied Cuckold”; the first of them, based on one of the episodes of Ariosto’s poem “The Furious Roland,” caused a lively literary controversy. Subsequent editions of Tales were published in 1665, 1671 and 1674. Lafontaine drew their plots from Boccaccio, the collection “One Hundred New Short Stories” and from ancient writers. In La Fontaine's view, the most important feature of the genre was to be stylistic and subject diversity. The graceful playfulness and gruff frankness of these short stories sounded like a kind of protest against the bigotry that had become established in the court environment. Of all the fairy tales, the “New Fairy Tales” were the most frivolous in nature, which provoked numerous accusations of obscenity. This displeased Louis XIV: the publication of "Fairy Tales" in France was prohibited, and the poet himself was subjected to oppression.
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| illustrations for the story “The Love of Psyche and Cupid” |
"Fables"
Someone once said about La Fontaine's fables, "It's a basket of beautiful cherries: you want to choose the best one, but you end up with an empty basket."
The fabulist himself said that you can get used to everything in the world, even to life.
“Sinners, whose fate everyone mourns, sooner or later get used to it and begin to feel like fish in water in hell,” he said.
More flies drown in honey than in vinegar.
It is doubly pleasant to deceive a deceiver.
Get me out of my difficulty first, my friend, and then you will read the moral lesson.
Most noble people are theatrical masks.
Of our enemies, we often need to fear the smallest ones the most.
From afar - something, close - nothing.
True greatness lies in self-control.
Every flatterer lives at the expense of the one who listens to him.
Love, love, when you take possession of us, we can say: forgive us, prudence!
We meet our destiny on the path we choose to escape it.
Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
There is nothing more dangerous than an ignorant friend.
A path strewn with flowers never leads to glory.
Hiding things from friends is dangerous; but it’s even more dangerous not to hide anything from them.
Patience and time give more than strength or passion.
The significance of La Fontaine for the history of literature lies in the fact that he created a new genre, borrowing the external plot from ancient authors (primarily Aesop and Phaedrus; in addition, La Fontaine drew from the Panchatantra and some Italian and Latin authors of the Renaissance). Remaining under the patronage of the Duchess of Bouillon until 1672 and wanting to please her, La Fontaine began writing “Fables,” which he called “a lengthy hundred-act comedy staged on the world stage.” In 1668, the first six books of fables appeared, under the modest title: “Aesop's Fables, translated into verse by M. de La Fontaine” (Fables d’Esope, mises en vers par M. de La Fontaine). It was the first collection that included the famous, later arranged by I. A. Krylov, “The Crow and the Fox” (more precisely, “The Raven and the Fox,” Le Corbeau et le Renard) and “Dragonfly and the Ant” (more precisely, “The Cicada and the Ant,” La Cigale et la Fourmi). The second edition, which already included eleven books, was published in 1678, and the third, including the twelfth and last book, at the end of 1693. The first two books are more didactic in nature; in the rest, Lafontaine becomes more and more free, combining didactics with the transmission of personal feelings.
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| Madame de la Sabliere |
La Fontaine's "Fables" are distinguished by their amazing variety, rhythmic perfection, skillful use of archaisms, a sober view of the world and vivid imagery. Like other fabulists, the poet often used personification, while relying on national tradition. Thus, already in the medieval “Romance of the Fox,” the wolf embodied a greedy and eternally hungry knight, the lion was the head of state, and the fox was the most cunning and sneaky among the inhabitants of the animal kingdom. In one of his most famous fables - “The Sea of Beasts” - Lafontaine, with the help of personification, created a panorama of the entire society: animals confess their sins in order to choose the most guilty and bring him as an atoning sacrifice to the gods. The lion, tiger, bear and other predators admit to bloodshed, violence, treachery, but the donkey, guilty of stealing a bunch of grass from the monastery field, has to bear the punishment for all. The poet considered allegory to be another means of generalization: in the programmatic fable-treatise “Stomach and Organs of the Body” he likens royal power to the stomach - gluttonous, but necessary for the normal life of the body, and in the fable “The Woodcutter and Death” he shows a peasant who, exhausted under an unbearable burden of taxes, corvee and soldiers' quarters, yet refuses "liberation", because a person prefers any suffering to death. La Fontaine’s attitude to “morality” deserves special attention, which is such a natural conclusion from the depicted situation that it is often put into the mouth of one of the characters. The poet himself argued that a fable should educate only by introducing the reader to the world. The refusal to edify is in clear contradiction with the instructive nature of the fable, which has been considered an integral feature of the genre since the time of Aesop. A hundred years later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, perceiving this deep-seated “immoralism,” rebelled against the fact that La Fontaine’s fables were given to children for whom, however, they were never intended to be read.
In 1732, Pierre Huber Subleyrat (1699 – 1749), the famous French artist and portrait painter, painted the canvas “The Loaded Saddle” based on La Fontaine’s fable about how a donkey kept a woman’s fidelity. The hero of the fable is an artist who was insanely jealous of his wife. Every time, leaving home even for a short time, he drew a donkey on his wife’s private part, naively believing that the picture would certainly be erased during love games if his missus decided to cheat on him. And therefore, fearing exposure, she will probably try to remain faithful until his arrival. However, another artist turned out to be a lucky rival. And, although the image of the donkey was erased, the lover before that managed to carefully copy it onto a sheet of paper. But, while drawing the donkey back onto the body, he couldn’t resist putting a saddle on it. Well, you understand with what hint (“dear friend, I loaded your ox”).
Unsolvable problem
Having achieved the favor of one lady, Duke Philip the Good was so captivated by her golden hair that he founded the Order of the Golden Fleece in their honor.
(From an ancient chronicle)
One is not so much evil as a black devil,
Great joker, hunter of miracles,
Helped the lover with advice.
The next day he possessed the object of his love.
By agreement with the demon, our hero
Love's captivating game
I could enjoy it to the fullest.
The demon said: "The obstinate girl
It won't stand, you can trust me.
But know this: in payment to Satan
It is not you who will serve me, as usual,
And I'll tell you. You give me an order
I do it myself
All orders and immediately
I come for others. But we have
The condition with you is one for each time:
You must speak quickly and directly
Otherwise, goodbye to your beautiful lady.
If you hesitate, you won’t see her
Neither your body nor your soul.
Then Satan takes them by right,
And Satan will give them a great finish.”
Having thought this way and that, my admirer
Gives consent. Ordering is not a thing,
To obey is where the torment lies!
Their contract is signed. Our hero
He hurries to his beloved without hindrance
With her he plunges into love pleasures,
Ascends in bliss to heaven,
But here's the problem: damn demon
It always sticks out over their bed.
He is given one task after another:
Replace the July heat with a blizzard,
Build a palace, erect a bridge over the river.
The demon just shuffles his foot as he leaves
And he immediately returns with a bow.
Our gentleman lost count of doubloons,
Flocked into his pocket.
He began to drive the demon with his knapsack to the Vatican
For remission of sins, large and small.
And how many demons dragged them around!
No matter how difficult or long the path may be,
He didn't bother the demon at all.
And now my gentleman is already in confusion,
He exhausted his imagination
He feels that the brain is his
He won't invent anything else.
Chu!.. something creaked... Was it the devil? And in fright
He turns to his friend
He tells her what happened, everything in full.
“Just what?” she answered him.
Well we'll stop the threat
Let's take the thorn out of the heart.
Tell him when he comes again,
Let him straighten this one out.
Let's see how the devil's work goes."
And the lady extracts something,
Barely noticeable, from the fairy labyrinth,
From the secret sanctuary of Cypris, -
What the ruler of the past days was so captivated by,
As they say, well-worn,
That this funny object was elevated to knighthood
And the Order established, whose rules are so strict,
That only gods are worthy to be in its ranks.
The lover to the devil says: “Here, take it,
You see this thing curling.
Spread it out and straighten it out,
Just be quicker, come on!”
The demon laughed, jumped up and disappeared.
He put the thing under the press.
Not so! I took the blacksmith's hammer,
Soaked in brine all day,
Steamed, dried and put in lye and malt,
Placed it in the sun, and then in the shade:
I tried both hot and cold.
Don `t move! Damn thread
You can’t straighten it out this way or that way.
The demon almost cries at the end -
Can't straighten hair!
On the contrary: the longer it beats,
The steeper the curl curls.
"What could it be? -
The stag wheezes, sitting down on a stump tiredly. -
I have never seen such material in my life,
All Latin won’t help here!”
And he comes to his lover that same night.
"Ready to leave you alone,
I am defeated and I admit it.
Take your little thing,
Just tell me: what is this?”
And he responded: “You give up, Satan!
You somehow quickly lost the hunt!
And I could give all the demons a job,
We’re not the only one with this thing!”
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| ill. Umberto Brunelleschi to La Fontaine's fables |
In 1688, Marguerite de Sabliers retired to an almshouse that provided shelter for incurable patients. However, she still provides accommodation for Lafontaine. The poet becomes close to Prince Francois-Louis de Bourbon-Conti. For some time, Lafontaine meets with the scandalous Mrs. Ulrich.
In 1691, the production of La Fontaine's opera "Astrea" (L "Astree) to the music of Kolassa fails. In mid-December 1692, La Fontaine becomes seriously ill and does not get out of bed for several months. He completely loses heart, especially when he learns about the illness of his precious patron Madame de Sablier: La Fontaine loses his taste for life and worldly pleasures.Marguerite de Sablier dies on January 8, 1693.
Message from Madame de la Sablière
Now that I'm old and the muse is following me
He's about to step over the earthly boundary,
And my mind - my torch - will be extinguished by the dull night,
Is it really possible to waste days, sad and sighing,
And complain for the rest of my time
The fact that he lost everything he could have owned.
If Heaven saves at least a spark for the poet
The fire with which he shone in bygone years,
He must use it, remembering that
That the golden sunset is the road into the night, into Nothingness.
The years run and run, no strength, no prayers,
Neither sacrifices, nor fasting - nothing will prolong it.
We are greedy for everything that can entertain us,
And who is as wise as you to neglect this?
And if there is someone, I’m not of that breed!
I am averse to solid joys by nature
And I abused the best of blessings.
A conversation about nothing, an intricate trifle,
Novels and games, the plague of different republics,
Where is the strongest mind, stumbling over temptations,
Let's trample all laws and all rights, -
In short, in those passions that only fools can match,
I squandered both my youth and my life carelessly.
There are no words, any evil will inevitably retreat,
A person will indulge in some genuine blessings.
But I wasted a century for false benefits.
Are there not enough of us like that? We are happy to make an idol
From money, honors, from sensual pleasure.
Tantalus from birth, we are just forbidden fruit
From the beginning of our days to the end it attracts.
But now you are old, and your passions are beyond your years,
And every day and hour he repeats this to you,
And you would get drunk for the last time if you could,
But how to predict your last threshold?
It’s short, the remaining term, even if it lasted years!
If only I were wise (but by the graces of nature
There is not enough for everyone), alas, Iris, alas!
Oh, if only I could be smart like you
I would use some of your lessons.
Completely - no way! But it would be great
Make some kind of plan, not difficult, so that you get out of the way
It was not a crime to get off on occasion.
Ah, it’s beyond my strength to not be mistaken at all!
But to rush after every bait,
Running, trying hard - no, I’m fed up with all this!
“It’s time, it’s time to finish!” everyone tells me.
You have lived through twelve five years,
And three times the twenty years that you spent in the world,
We haven't seen you live peacefully for an hour.
But everyone will notice, seeing you at least once,
Your temperament is changeable and easy to enjoy.
With your soul you are a guest in everything and a guest only for a moment,
In love, in poetry, in business - it’s all the same.
We will tell you all about this only one thing:
You are willing to change - in manner, genre, style.
In the morning you are Terence, and in the evening you are Virgil,
But you didn’t give anything perfect.
So stand on new way, try it too.
Call all nine muses, dare, torment any one!
If you fail, it’s not a problem, there will be another opportunity.
Just don’t touch the short stories, they were so good!”
And I’m ready, Iris, I confess from the bottom of my heart,
Follow the advice - smart, you can't be smarter!
You couldn't say it was better or stronger.
Or maybe this is your, yes, your advice again?
I'm ready to admit that I - well, how can I tell you? -
Parnassus moth, a bee whose properties
Plato tried on for our device.
The creature is light, I have been fluttering for many years
I go from flower to flower, from object to object.
There is not much glory in that, but there is a lot of pleasure.
To the Temple of Memory - who knows? - and I would enter like a genius,
When I would play one thing without plucking the other strings.
But where am I! I am in poetry, as in love, a flyer
And I paint my portrait without any false background:
I don’t try to cover up my vices with confession.
I just want to say, without any "ah!" yes "oh!"
Why is my temperament good and why is it bad?
As soon as reason illuminated my life and soul,
I flushed, I recognized the attraction to mischief,
And not the only captivating passion since then
Like a tyrant, the government imposed its power on me.
No wonder, they say, a slave to idle desires
I wasted my whole life, like my youth, in temptations.
Why am I polishing every syllable and verse here?
Perhaps there’s no point: maybe they’ll praise them?
After all, I am powerless to follow their advice.
Who begins to live having already seen Lethe?
And I did not live: I was a servant of two despots,
And the first is idle noise, Cupid is the other tyrant.
What does it mean to live, Iris? This is nothing new for you to teach.
I even hear you, your answer is ready.
Live for the highest blessings, they lead to good.
Use only your leisure and labor for them,
Honor the Almighty, as the grandfathers did,
Take care of your soul, Filid has given it from everyone,
Drive away the intoxication of love, powerless vows of words -
That hydra that is always alive in people's hearts.
During his illness, Lafontaine reads a lot. Remembering his passion for theology in his youth, he takes up the Gospels and rereads them many times. Imbued with divine truths, he asks to meet with a priest. The young Abbot Pouget visits him, and they talk about faith and religion for almost two weeks in a row. Lafontaine is haunted by the question of the existence of heaven and hell. The author of frivolous stories wonders whether he faces eternal punishment and whether he can be considered a sinner. Having learned about the poet’s fears, Pouget makes every effort to convince him to publicly renounce his “unholy” stories (“fairy tales”). February 12, 1693 La Fontaine expresses repentance for his stories in the face of a delegation from the Academy that specially arrived to see him. On the advice of the abbot, La Fontaine destroys the newly completed essay, promises to live the rest of his life in prayer and piety and from now on write only religious works.
By May, the illness had subsided, and Lafontaine could once again attend meetings of the Academy. He keeps his promise to the abbot and translates the poem “The Day of Judgment” from Latin (its author is considered to be the Italian Tommaso da Celano). The text of the translation will be read at the gala meeting of the Academy on the occasion of the election of de La Bruyère. The poet's light and graceful style leaves a pleasant impression, despite the fact that the plot is not as funny as in "Giocondo" or "The Beaten and Satisfied Cuckold." In September 1693, the 12th book of fables was published. The poet dedicates it to the young Duke of Burgundy, the grandson of Louis XIV.
Some time after the death of Madame de Sabliers, the sad and sick Lafontaine accepts the invitation (1694) of long-time friends, the d'Hervar couple, whom he met while still in the service of Fouquet, and moves in with them. Lafontaine did not live even a year in d'Hervar's house, but this Last year his life was full of events. He often goes to the Academy, where his authority is steadily growing. The poet actively participates in the preparation of the first edition of the Dictionary of the French Academy, published in August 1694. La Fontaine even finds time to visit his wife in Chateau-Thierry. This is their last meeting...
The disease made itself felt again at the beginning of 1695. One February evening, on the way from the Academy, Lafontaine felt ill. Returning home, he writes a sad letter to his faithful friend Mocrois. Mocrois supports him as best he can and tries to encourage him: “If God pleases to restore your health, I hope you will come to spend the rest of your days with me and we will often talk about God’s mercy.” La Fontaine died on April 13, 1695, in his seventy-fourth year. During preparations for the funeral ceremony, it was discovered that the poet’s body was tormented by a hair shirt, which he, no doubt, had been wearing for a long time. Lafontaine was buried in the Saint-Innocent cemetery.
Thanks to La Fontaine, the literary genre of fables significantly expands its creative possibilities. All subsequent fabulists, including Russian poets of the 18th and early 19th centuries, were able to take advantage of his experience and techniques. Sumarokov, Khemnitser, Izmailov, Dmitriev, and even the famous Krylov studied with Lafontaine. The folk content of the fables unites these two authors, who worked at different times and won, thanks to their creativity, world fame. Pushkin himself admired La Fontaine's Fairy Tales, considering them the pinnacle of the achievements of playful Western European poetry.
History of the fountain “Girl with a Jug”
In 1808–1810, Alexander I gave the order to begin the improvement of the area where Katalnaya Gora used to be. The work was supervised by garden master I. Bush and architect L. Ruska. Between the Big Pond and the Granite Terrace there was a slope, which was designed in the form of green ledges, paths were laid, and the mouth of the side channel was turned into a fountain (designed by engineer A. Betancourt). At this moment, the idea arose to decorate this area of the park with sculptures. But the figure of the “Milkmaid” appeared here only in the summer of 1816. The statue was made by the then famous sculptor P. P. Sokolov. The source of the plot was La Fontaine’s fable “The Milkwoman, or the Jug of Milk.”
Comfortably and lightly dressed,
Putting a jug of milk on his head,
In a short skirt, almost barefoot,
I hurried to the city to the Peretta market.
Inspiring yourself with a cheerful dream,
The young thrush decided
What will the supplier do with money:
“Then I’ll buy eggs and hatch chickens,
At home, in the yard, I will feed them perfectly,
The fox will try to climb up to them in vain;
I thought it all out cunningly, cleverly and subtly;
Having sold the chickens, I will, of course, buy a pig,
To raise a pig, the cost will be a penny,
After all, my pig is both large and good,
And I will get a lot of money for it.
I wish I knew what would stop me
Don't unnecessarily burden your wallet,
And choose a cow and a bull in the city,
I will have a worthy reward for my efforts
Watch them jump among the herd.”
Then she jumped so high herself,
That, having dropped the jug, she spilled the milk.
New losses were added to it:
A bull, a pig, a cow and chickens died.
With despair, full of melancholy,
She looks at the shards
On the ruined puddle of milk,
Afraid of facing an angry husband.
All this turned into a fable later.
Under the name "Milk Jug".
Who thought only about daily matters,
Without building castles in the air?
There is darkness everywhere for dreamers,
Some are stupid, others are crazy.
Everyone is daydreaming; It makes us happy to dream:
Sweet deception lifts us to heaven.
There is no limit or end to our dreams:
All honors for us, all women's hearts!
I'm alone, like everyone else, dreaming,
I send a challenge to the bravest,
In my dreams I am already a king, beloved by the people,
I take all new crowns, invincible, -
How long will life be a merciless hand
He will not awaken me by returning my appearance.
Translation by B.V. Kakhovsky
Pushkin and Lafontaine
In the poem “Town,” speaking about his favorite books, Pushkin writes in a humorous tone about French writer. For him, Lafontaine is, first of all, the author of fables, which were part of the lyceum curriculum. The perception of La Fontaine through the prism of Rococo poetry is also noticeable here:
And you, dear singer,
Delightful poetry
Captivating hearts,
You are here, you careless lazy man,
The simple-hearted sage
Vanyusha Lafontaine!
Krylov and Lafontaine
In 1805, young I. A. Krylov showed his translation of two fables by La Fontaine: “The Oak and the Cane” (Le Chene et le Roseau) and “The Picky Bride” (La Fille) to the famous poet I. I. Dmitriev, who approved his work . In January 1806, the fables were published in the first issue of the Moscow Spectator magazine; Thus began the journey of Krylov the fabulist. The outstanding Russian philologist Sergei Averintsev devoted one of his last reports to the problem of adapting the plots of La Fontaine's fables by Ivan Andreevich Krylov.
Lafontaine's fables in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"
“Cat” according to the horoscope, M. Bulgakov probably deliberately decorated his novel with allusions to La Fontaine’s fable “The Cat Turned into a Woman”: “Drive nature through the door - it will fly into the window!” (translated by N. Karamzin). Margarita either “scratches quietly” or “figures out exactly which windows of Latunsky’s apartment” in order to fly into them. The motif of the cat-witch, used by N. Gogol (“May Night”, 1831), was also close to A. Druzhinin (“cat manners” by Polinka Sax (1847). “And I want to go to the basement” (chapter 24), declares Master.
The poet Ryukhin (chapter 6) “warmed a snake on his chest” (Lafontaine, “Le villageois et le serpent”), and Professor Kuzmin (chapter 18) sees an “orphan black kitten” (“Do you love a cat? Love: he’s an orphan,” A. Izmailov, “Black Cat,” 1824). In I. Krylov’s fable “The Pike and the Cat,” “the master’s work is afraid,” and his “Demyanov’s ear” is stylized in the “Griboyedov” conversation between the writers Ambrose and Foki (chapter 5).
The opposition of head and legs (Berlioz), head and entrails (barman Variety), along with keyword“members of MASSOLIT” can be perceived as a reminder of the vocabulary of A. Sumarokov in his translation of La Fontaine’s fable “Les membres et l"estomac”:
A member helps a member in society...
All the members and the head itself is brainless
Resting in a coffin
(“Head and Members”, 1762).
In “The Dream of Nikanor Ivanovich” (chapter 15) the phrase of the artist-investigator sounds: “These are the fables of La Fontaine that I have to listen to.” After all, they can throw “a child, an anonymous letter, a proclamation, an infernal machine...”, but not currency. Arguments in favor of giving up money are reminiscent of I. Krylov’s fable “The Miser” (1825):
Drink, eat and be merry
And spend them without fear!
It is the presence of fable sources that explains the inaccurate presentation of the entertainer of “The Miserly Knight”: the baron allegedly died “from a blow to his chest with currency and stones.” From I. Krylov:
Stingy with a key in his hand
I died of hunger on the chest -
And all the chervonets are intact.
Lafontaine’s idyllic-apocalyptic “fairy tale” “Philemon and Baucis” translated by I. Dmitriev (1805), in our opinion, influenced the depiction of the fate of the Master and Margarita (Jupiter - Woland):
"Couple! follow me,” said the father of fate. —
Now judgment will be carried out: to your homeland
I will spill all my vial of anger...
Death overnight is a blessing for M. Bulgakov’s heroes. From I. Dmitriev:
Oh, if only we had the genius of death
Touched both at the same hour.
La Fontaine’s story “The Love of Psyche and Cupid” permeates Bulgakov’s novel: it has its own walk of writers in Versailles (along the alleys of the Patriarch’s Ponds), and the theme of light and darkness, and the adventures of a woman in the beyond world, and even a unique sunset at the end. In La Fontaine, Acanthus (Racine) invites friends to admire the falling nature: “Acanthus was given the opportunity to slowly enjoy the last beauties of the day.” From M. Bulgakov: “A group of horsemen waited for the master in silence” (chapter 31). The comparison of these two masterpieces is the topic of a special work also because the question arises about “Darling” (1783) by I. Bogdanovich. Thus, Margarita’s pose on the window (chapter 20), when she “made a thoughtful and poetic face,” teasing the “hog,” no longer parodies La Fontaine, but L. Tolstoy, who was undoubtedly influenced by him (“War and Peace,” vol. 2 , part 3, chapter III): “Darling, my dear, come here. Well, do you see?
The “chain” of people overwhelmed by laughter or sorrow, which La Fontaine’s heroes speak of, paraphrasing Plato, also appears in A. Chekhov (“Student”, 1894): “And it seemed to him that he had just seen both ends of this chain: he touched to one end, as the other trembled.” In “The Master and Margarita,” thanks to the cries of Nikanor Ivanovich (“an expert” in fables), “anxiety was transmitted to the 120th room, where the patient woke up and began to look for his head, and to the 118th, where the unknown master became worried and wrung his hands in anguish. hands, looking at the moon... From room 118, alarm flew over the balcony to Ivan, and he woke up and cried” (chapter 15).
LAFONTAINE, JEAN DE(La Fontaine, Jean de) (1621–1695), French poet. Born in Chateau-Thierry on July 8, 1621. Distinguished by his rebellious disposition since childhood, he was sent to study law at the Paris Oratorian Seminary. Returning to his parents' estate in Champagne, where his father was royal governor, twenty-six-year-old La Fontaine married fifteen-year-old Marie Ericard. The marriage was unsuccessful, and La Fontaine, neglecting family responsibilities, went to Paris in 1647 with the intention of devoting himself to literary activity. In 1657 he found a patron in the person of Minister Fouquet, to whom he dedicated several poems, including the famous Elegy to the Nymphs in Vaud (Elégie aux nymphes de Vaux, 1662).
In 1667, the Duchess of Bouillon became La Fontaine's patroness. Continuing to compose poems that were quite free in content, in 1665 he published his first collection Stories in verse (Les nouvelles en vers), followed by Fairy tales and stories in verse (Contes et nouvelles en vers, 1664–1671) and Love of Psyche and Cupid (Les amours de Psyche et de Cupidon, 1669). Remaining a protégé of the Duchess of Bouillon until 1672 and wanting to please her, La Fontaine began to write Fables (Fables) and published the first six books in 1668. During this period, his friends included N. Boileau-Depreo, Madame de Sevigne, J. Racine and Moliere. Ultimately coming under the patronage of the Marquise de la Sabliere, the poet completed the publication of twelve books in 1680 Basen and in 1683 he was elected a member of the French Academy. Lafontaine died in Paris on April 14, 1695.
Stories in verse and short poems by La Fontaine are now almost forgotten, although they are full of wit and represent an example of the classicist genre. At first glance, the lack of moral edification in them is in clear contradiction with the essence of the genre. But with a more thoughtful analysis, it becomes clear that many of the fables of Aesop, Phaedrus, Nevle and other authors in La Fontaine’s arrangement have lost their edifying meaning, and we understand that behind the traditional form are hidden not entirely orthodox judgments. One hundred years after its appearance Basen La Fontaine J.-J. Rousseau, perceiving this deep “immoralism”, opposed them being read by children, for whom, however, they were never intended.
