Lee Fahnestock

Honored by the French Government for her services to French culture with a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres, Lee Fahnestock has translated fiction and poetry, with a particular interest in the poetry of Francis Ponge, published in four volumes so far: The Making of the Pré, The Nature of Things, Vegetation and Mute Objects of Expression. She has also co-translated, with Norman MacAfee, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and two volumes of the letters of Jean-Paul Sartre, edited by Simone de Beauvoir: Witness to My Life and Quiet Moments in a War. The Fahnestock/MacAfee translation of Les Misérables, the most popular English-language version, is the official tie-in edition to what has been called “the world’s most popular musical.” Since work on the Hugo translation and preface, Fahnestock has been gradually assembling for closer contact with the Paris Hugo loved, some walks through sites where he led his characters.