Gunderson

Francis Ponge

Published in 1942 and considered the keystone of Francis Ponge’s large body of work, Le parti pris des choses appears here in its entirety as The Nature of Things .Ponge’s first full volume, it reveals his preoccupation with nature and its metaphoric transformation through the creative ambiguity of language. Language is both subject and means. For all the critical analysis devoted to this work, “never has the book been fully fathomed” L.F.

Assessment of the translation by Barbara Wright
Lee Fahnestock must certainly be “Ponge’s voice in English”. Several rereadings and a comparison with the French originals, confirmed this opinion. Ponge was the first modern poet to be moved to imagine the inner nature of objects-“things”. Things animal - vegetable - mineral. Snails -moss - pebbles….Ponge’s poetic intentions may seem very serious -and they are- but he expresses seriousness in a joyous, often insouciant style, full of humor, lighthearted word play, puns, alliteration, allusions, imaginative contrasts. And I feel that this unique combination has been reproduced with love and understanding by Lee Fahnestock. She gives us Ponge’s tones, rhythms, humor. She has maneuvered his word play with respect and unostentatious discretion; she knows how to read between the lines. Here, to my mind, is indeed Ponge in English.

Lovely prose poems . This book is considered by many to be the “keystone’ of his work. Aptly translated. Highly Recommended Poetry Project Newsletter

The tenderness and beauty in these poems seem, through Lee Fahnestock’s translation, to come straight from Ponge himself. The simple, inviting book design and the lucid translation of the prose poems bring Ponge directly from another time and another place to the modern English-speaking reader.
The book as a whole is a treasure Ellen Clay editor @equinoxpublishingco.com

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