| French
Translations and Children's Fiction by Jan Shirley |
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 Daurel
and Beton Translation by Janet Shirley. Anonymous, possibly the opening section of a lost Occitan epic. Its date is disputed, perhaps 12th century, perhaps later. A strange and enchanting work, full of insights into attitudes to childhood, status of women, the social position of troubadors. Sometimes tender, occasionally extremely brutal. Daurel is a professional entertainer, a mere singer and acrobat, but a man of innate nobility, Beton is the baby he rescues at an appalling cost to himself. Beton's mother could not be more nobly born, but her brother forces her to marry her husband's murderer. Verse, translated into prose. Paperback available from bookshops and from Llanerch Enterprises Tel 01570 470567. |
