Shapiro Translates Irony, Puns in Preversities

Norm Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, translated and edited the book Preversities: A Jacques Prevert Sampler, published by Black Widow Press, September 2010.

Jacques Prevert (1900-1977) was a poet and screenwriter who actively participated in the Surrealist Movement as well as the Rue du Chateau group with Raymond Queneau and Marcel Duchamp. His poetry is taught in schools in France and his works appear in countless anthologies throughout the world. This comprehensive anthology, drawing from all time periods of his work, is the first in English to present a picture of the whole of Prevert’s poetic achievement.

Shapiro translates the full-range of Prevert’s irony, puns, and word play that has enchanted French readers throughout the 20th century.