Product Description
Even though he was an important founder of modernism, companion to Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire, and the early Surrealists, Max Jacob has remained a somewhat neglected and little-known figure. Now this delightful and utterly original poet has been given a detailed and careful presentation in English, through William Kulik's imaginative translations. In a selection that covers the whole of Jacob's career and that does particular justice to his accomplishments as a prose poet, Kulik offers us a full and sympathetic portrait, framing it with an Introduction that sketches the biography and fills out the historical context. A divided man--sexually, culturally, artistically--Jacob moves us deeply with his steady commitment to his art and its possibilities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amusing
Jacob has a nutty imagination. He is very entertaining.I find these fanciful short poems are charming.

Good stuff from the surrealist trenches
From all accounts an extremely weird man, even by surrealist standards, Max Jacob left behind a fair amount of sprightly, entertainingly strange verse, much of which can be found in the present volume.The majority of the entries here are brief, fanciful prose-poems in the spirit of Charles Simic's "The World Doesn't End"; if you like one, you'll probably like the other.Poems like "'Max is a Lunatic' (Everyone)" goof on his own eccentric personality; others are surprisingly direct--and, among the French surrealists, pretty uncommon--expressions of religious belief ("Ballad of the Perpetual Miracle").A fast, pleasant read. ... Read more

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Jacob is a young boy with a gift for carpentry who is busy finishing up a project for a contest.His teacher, Rabbi Simeon, not only instructs him in carpentry, but also teaches him important lessons about God.Rabbi has just taught Jacob that when you give a gift to one of God's children, it's like giving a gift to God.The night before the contest while working on his project, Jacob has fallen asleep in the workshop and is awakened by a bright light.The light is a star which is directly over Jacob's father's stable.As he approaches the stable, he sees a man, a woman, and a newborn baby which is laying in the straw.Remembering what Rabbi Simeon had told him, Jacob returns to the workshop and takes his project (a feeding trough) to the new family.The morning of the contest, the Rabbi pleased to find out that Jacob has acted upon the lesson he learned and has truly given a gift to God.

Customer Reviews (14)

Jacob's Gift
The book came as described and in time for Thanksgiving, like I had hoped.I was totally satisfied with the service.

A beautiful story
Jacob has a true gift for woodworking and a desire to please his Rabbi and God.One quiet night, Jacob sees a beautiful star and is drawn to a nearby stable.What he observes changes him and his perspective forever.When he realizes this new baby has no place to sleep, he gives his manger to the new family.

A beautiful story about the birth of Jesus Christ from an unusual perspective. I love rereading this story each year, and I love watching my boys read it.The illustrations are simple and the lessons taught, so important.God has given us His son, and the best thing we can give back is to serve others as we serve Him.

Book/DVD Combo
What I love about Max Lucado is he is so clear:we should have self-esteem because God our creator esteems us so highly.Every book by Max Lucado has this message shining brightly within it, and Jacob's Gift is no exception.This story was a little predictable, but my little boys like it a lot.The DVD was MUCH MUCH better than the DVD for Max Lucado's Crippled Lamb.A few times through Christmas this year, we were able to encourage the kids to do something difficult or thoughtful by reminding them of this story: everyone has a gift they can share.

A special Christmas story
Max Lucado has a knack for taking a story from the Bible and making it come to life. "Jacob's Gift," illustrated by Robert Hunt, is certainly one of those stories.

Jacob, the main character in the story, exhibits a natural talent for working with wood. The Rabbi has announced to all his students the upcoming arrival of his nephew, a master carpenter from Nazareth. The nephew is coming to help the Rabbi select one of his students to work on a new synagogue. Jacob is intrigued by the idea of being chosen for such an honor and is working on a special project to prove his talents.

Rabbi Simeon knows Jacob is on his way to becoming a master carpenter himself. He tells Jacob, "God has given you the gift of woodworking." He goes on to say, "God gives gifts, Jacob. Some can sing, others teach, and you - you can build...God gave you this gift to share with others...When you give a gift to one of His [God's] children, it's like giving a gift to God."

Jacob spends his days helping his father get their family owned inn ready for an expected influx of visitors; he spends his evenings cutting, sawing and shaping his special project. Then, on a special night, when the stars are bright overhead, a man and a woman arrive at the inn his father owns. Jacob sees the bright star and follows the light to the inn's stables, where he sees a stranger, with his wife and their newborn infant. The baby is wrapped in cloths and is lying on the ground in a nest of straw.

Jacob has spent countless hours on his special project; it's a new type of manger that Jacob designed himself, a manger with wheels. He knows he has done a good job on it and he wants to have it ready to show to the Rabbi the next day, but when he sees the baby lying in the straw, he also knows that's not a fitting place for an infant. He gives the new manger to the couple for the use of their newborn son.Little does he realize the significance of his gesture, the true measure of his gift.

This is a book about the birth of Christ, about Christmas, but that is really only a small part of the story. The larger message is about giving gifts to others and about God's gift of his Son to us.

The book is beautifully illustrated with life-like drawings done mostly in muted colors.

What I Like: Everything.

What I Dislike: Nothing.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: The publisher suggests an age group of 9-12 years, but I believe this is a book that the entire family would enjoy.

Christine M. Irvin - Christian Children's Book Review

A Very Special Christmas Present
JACOB'S GIFT is another wonderful retelling of the Christmas story by Christian author Max Lucado. Jacob is a young carpenter apprentice who has a creative imagination. He often finds himself ridiculed by the other children who do recognize his talents, but the master carpenter, Rabbi Simoen, recognizes and encourages the talent of Jacob.

The class gets excited about a carpentry project that will be judged by Simeon's nephew, a carpenter who will be visiting Bethlehem very soon. Jacob decides to build hay troth on wheels. He is busy at work when he hears a cry from a stable. A child has been born, but it has no crib. Jacob wonders if he should ignore the cry, or give the young couple the unfinished hay troth to use as a crib even though it will mean he will not have a project for the contest. Jacob decides to give away the troth. When he begins to tell Rabbi Simeon why he has no project, the nephew arrives. He is none other than Joseph who proudly tells the story of his son as well as the generosity of the Jacob whose gift saved the day.

Lucado is again able to tell the familiar story of the birth of Christ in an interesting and engaging manner. The artwork by illustrator Robert Hunt will capture the imaginations of younger children. The book is also suited for older children as well since Jacob is probably a preteen and has to make an important moral choice ... Read more

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Product Description
A selection of work by four of the fathers of prose poetry, the French writers Max Jacob, Jean Follain, and Francis Ponge. Baudelaire laid the foundations for prose poetry as a genre in the 19th century; these poets expanded the concept in the first half of the 20th century. Jacob (1876-1944) was a writer of surrealist cubist fables, Ponge (1899-1988) was a master of the language of things, and Follain (1903-1971) merged the everyday with the historical to create a world rich in anniversaries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Modern Masters of the French Prose Poem
The prose poem is something of a French specialty. Edgar Allan Poe may have coined the term, but it was Poe's French translator Charles Baudelaire who first "dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhyme, supple and muscular," and became the first of many fine French poets to excel in this oxymoronic genre. "Dreaming the Miracle" brings together a sampling of the work of three masterful French prose poets of the 20th Century: the surrealist Max "the Nut" Jacob (1876-1944), the first great poet to apply dream logic to poetic composition; Francis Ponge (1899-1988), the "would-be encyclopedist" of the poetry of the ordinary object; and (one of the great finds of the last century) Jean Follain (1903-1971), an obscure judge who wrote exquisite vignettes that collectively comprise an intimate albeit anonymous autobiography of the last century.

The Jacob and Ponge translations seem a little uneven at times, but the poetry shines through nonetheless. The translations of Follain's prose poems, beautifully rendered by Mary Feeney and the late, great poet William Mathews, are an unadulterated delight. Since the publisher neglected to put any sample pages up on the Amazon website, let me rectify the omission by quoting a representative prose poem from each poet:


Max Jacob: The Beggar Woman of Naples

When I lived in Naples, there was a beggar woman at my palace gate I'd toss a coin to before getting into my carriage. One day, surprised that she never thanked me, I looked at her. As I did, I saw that what I'd mistaken for a beggar woman was a green wooden crate containing some red earth and a few half-rotten bananas.


Francis Ponge: The Pleasures of the Door

Kings do not touch doors.
They know nothing of this pleasure: pushing before one gently or brusquely one of those large familiar panels, then turning back to replace it--holding a door in one's arms.
The pleasure of grabbing the midriff of one of these tall obstacles to a room by its porcelain node; that short clinch during which movement stops, the eye widens, and the whole body adjusts to its new surrounding.
With a friendly hand one still holds on to it, before closing it decisively and shutting oneself in--which the click of the tight but well-oiled spring pleasantly confirms.


Jean Follain: Untitled

Store windows start to light up: displays that banish thoughts of war or hunger, huge dolls with lifelike lashes, eyelids that close. A storefront with shining jewels catches your eye. A white wall takes on a greengage tint. A gutter along the sidewalk seems to be running with a red liqueur instead of dirty water. Absinthe green smoke floats up from muted roofs. There's a passerby who's never written a word except his signature, using a beat-up wooden holder. He senses this bursting beauty. And the man with a terrible temper, seeing his hand turned orange by the sunset, falls silent before his household who fear him, maybe even forgive him his fits. ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Alexis Carrel, Paul Fort, Max Jacob, Fernando Arrabal, Walt Disney, Mekonnen Welde Mikaél, Laure Manaudou, Nicolas Dalayrac, Sean Connery, Étienne Nicolas Méhul, Cohorte de La Légion D'honneur, Louis Anquetin, Efisio Giglio-Tos, Grand Collier de La Légion D'honneur, Maison D'éducation de La Légion D'honneur, Peter Brook, Ivan Aïvazovski, Nicolas-Jacques Conté, George Jellicoe, Louis-Adélard Senécal, Gina Lollobrigida, Évariste-Vital Luminais, Marc Bloch, Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, Auguste et Louis Lumière, Joseph-Paul Eydoux, Antoine-Augustin Préault, Ignacy Paderewski, Pierre-Antoine-Augustin de Piis, Villes Décorées de La Légion D'honneur, Ousmane Sow, Valdas Adamkus, Félicien Marceau, Palais de La Légion D'honneur, Joseph Martray, Élie Frédéric Forey, Louis François Marie Bellin de La Liborlière, Mohammed Zaher Chah, Alfred D'édimbourg, Jehan-Rictus, Stéphane Grappelli, Alexandre Tchernychev, François Masson, Francis Picabia, Abel Ferry, Bernard Lion, Walter Bonatti, Margaret Brown, Jean Montalat, Louis-Édouard Cestac, Eugène Flandin, Oscar Venceslas de Lubicz-Milosz, Auguste le Prévost, Pierre Scize, Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, Amédée Gordini, Jean Lartéguy, Curtis Lemay, Américo Castro, Georges Mamy, Louis Bossut, Micheline Ostermeyer, Alain Gerbault, Auguste de Saint-Aignan, Brooks Richards, Joseph Émile Colson, Nicolas Roumiantzoff, Gérard Lacuée, Auguste-Joseph Franchomme, Paul-Frédéric Rollet, Jean-Louis Girod de L'ain, Lauris Norstad, Philippe-Jean Pelletan, Jules Jamin, Paul Lacroix, Jean Casale, Nadine Gordimer, Jean Guillaume Moitte, Jean de Chantelauze, Louis Gallait, William Randal Cremer, Jean-Claude Brouillet, John Strange Spencer-Churchill, Doveton Sturdee, Joseph Halléguen, Pierre-Barthélémy Po...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more