Nature Stories

by Renard, Jules; Parmée, Douglas; Bonnard, Pierre

• ISBN13: 9781590173640
• ISBN10: 1590173643
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-12-07
• Publisher: NYRB Classics

Summary

The natural world in all its richness, glimpsed variously in the house, the barnyard, and the garden, in ponds and streams, and at large in the woods and the fields, including old friends like the dog, the cat, the cow, and the pig, along with more unusual and sometimes alarming characters such as the weasel, the dragonfly, snakes of several sorts, and even a whale, not to mention ants in their seeming infinitude and a single humble potato-all these and more are the subjects of what may well be the most deft and delightful book of literary miniatures ever written. In Jules Renardrs"s world, plants and animals not only feel but speak (one species, the swallow, appears to write Hebrew), and yet, for all the anthropomorphic wit and whimsy the author indulges in, they guard their mystery too. Sly, funny, and touching,Nature Stories, here beautifully rendered into English by Douglas Parmeacute;e and accompanied by the wonderful ink-brush images of Pierre Bonnard with which the book was originally published, is a literary classic of inexhaustible freshness.

Author Biography

Jules Renard (1864–1910) was a French author and a member of the AcadTmie Goncourt, most famous for the works Poil de carotte (Carrot Top) and Histoires naturelles (Nature Stories). Among his other works are Le Plaisir de rompre (The Pleasure of Breaking) and Huit jours a; la campagne (Eight Days in the Countryside). His Journal was published in the United States in 2008.

Douglas ParmTe (1914–2008) was a lifetime fellow of Queens College, Cambridge. He translated works by Flaubert, Zola, Baudelaire, and Chamfort, among others, including the NYRB Classics titles The Child by Jules VallFs and Afloat by Guy de Maupassant.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Lying in Wait	p. 3
Hunting for Pictures	p. 5
The Hen	p. 6
Cocks	p. 9
Ducks	p. 12
Turkeys	p. 15
Pigeons	p. 16
The Peacock	p. 19
The Swan	p. 20
One Dog	p. 23
Two Dogs	p. 24
Dédèche has Died	p. 26
The Cat	p. 29
Flies	p. 31
The Cow	p. 32
The Death of Brunette	p. 34
The Ox	p. 39
The Bull	p. 40
The Mare	p. 43
The Horse	p. 44
The Donkey	p. 47
The Pig	p. 48
The Pig and his Pearls	p. 50
The Nanny Goat	p. 51
The Billy Goat	p. 53
Two Rabbits	p. 54
The Hare	p. 56
The Lizard	p. 59
The Green Lizard	p. 60
The Grass Snake	p. 61
The Weasel	p. 62
The Hedgehog	p. 63
The Snake	p. 65
The Worm	p. 66
Frogs	p. 69
The Toad	p. 70
The Grasshopper	p. 73
The Cricket	p. 74
The Cockroach	p. 76
The Glowworm	p. 77
The Spider	p. 78
The May Bug	p. 79
Ants	p. 80
The Snail	p. 82
A Sunrise	p. 84
The Caterpillar	p. 87
The Butterfly	p. 88
The Wasp	p. 91
The Flea	p. 92
The Dragonfly	p. 95
The Squirrel	p. 96
The Mouse	p. 99
Monkeys	p. 100
The Stag	p. 103
The Gudgeon	p. 104
The Pike	p. 106
The Whale	p. 107
Fish	p. 108
The Garden	p. 113
Poppies	p. 114
The Vine	p. 115
Bats	p. 116
The Birdless Cage	p. 119
A Canary	p. 120
The Finch	p. 123
The Bullfinches' Nest	p. 125
The Sparrow	p. 126
The Swallows	p. 128
The Magpie	p. 131
The Blackbird	p. 132
The Golden Oriole	p. 133
The Parrot	p. 133
The Lark	p. 134
The Kingfisher	p. 137
The Hawk	p. 138
The Wagtail	p. 140
Partridges	p. 141
The Woodcock	p. 148
A Family of Trees	p. 151
The End of the Shooting Season	p. 152
The New Moon	p. 155
The Wood	p. 156
Rain	p. 157
The Furious Dog	p. 158
Autumn Leaves	p. 161
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