MLA works cited page - help please

[tzikeh]

Standard example of a works cited entry for a translated book:

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Trans. Richard Howard. New York: Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Simple enough. Except what I'm citing is the Penguin Classics version of The Lais of Marie de France. Marie de France is, obviously, not her "name"; her name is Marie, and she is from France.

Do I put "Marie de France. The Lais of Marie de France. Trans. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2003"

Or "de France, Marie., etc."

Or "London, England: Penguin Books..."

Or...

HALP.

(Grrr. All citation rules, in any style, too complex. Much prefer "That one book we read in class with the short stories in it.")

Comments

[semielliptical]

I would go to http://www.worldcat.org, search the title, and check how the author is listed there...

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3869125&referer=brief_results

Looks like: "de France, Marie" will work.

[semielliptical]

Ooops, reversed that, I meant, "Marie, de France"

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

That makes even *less* sense!

*ALL* citations should be "That book, you know the one I'm talking about."

[semielliptical]

Yeah, I'm not really a citation expert - my favorite method it to find a model and follow it. Just assuming that if catalogers decided that she would be alphabetized under "Marie", then it should work in a list of citations, too...but ymmv.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Alas, if only it worked that way. Chicago style, MLA style, APA style, and others all cite differently. It's just dumb.

[semielliptical]

Well, yeah - only an example in the same style will help!

[elynross.livejournal.com]

The reason it's done that way is that the "de France" is considered under "Titles and other words associated with a name." The full citation is Marie, de France, 12th cent. It used to be listed as "Marie de France, 12th cent." but it was updated at some point.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, that's not the version I have -- that's the Dutton publication. And it doesn't look right anyway - the MLA style guide I have says you must specify the translator for any translated work.

HATE CITATIONS.

[semielliptical]

Sorry, yes, World Cat doesn't provide examples of how to cite, I was just using it to find out how to list her as an author.

[zephiey.livejournal.com]

Your first citation would be the correct one as per my MLA book.

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

The Harvard catalog has her listed as "Marie, de France, 12th cent."

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

I expect you probably know about this:

http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php

Kind of a buttsaver for me as a teacher in the days when I taught.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea about this. (Bookmarks, delicious tags)

And it's almost exactly what I had except for the second edition bit.

I'm still not certain how to cite her name, but wev, at this point.

MWAH!!

(also - ICON! Must make QI icons!)

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

On an author search my catalog has her listed as: Marie, de France

Which means that your first citation is correct.

---

And hells yes, I wish there were one unified citation style.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

On an author search my catalog has her listed as: Marie, de France

Doesn't that seem counter-intuitive to you, putting her first name in the "last name" spot? It does to me. Ah, well. I guess I can point to websites that show the style if the prof has a problem.

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

Like many other people, I refer you to a library site -- but I refer you to the Library of Congress! Which also lists her as "Marie, de France." And no, it's not weird putting her "first name in the last-name spot"; think of what you're calling the "last-name spot" as the "most-important name spot," and what you're calling the "first-name spot" as the "secondary-name spot," and you'll see that for someone with only one name, it's pretty clear where that name goes.

In my RL paying job, I say things like "I list her under M per the usage of the Library of Congress" all the time. Nobody's ever tried to argue with me.

However, if I were editing a book that cited this book, I would list it under "Marie de France," without the comma. I suspect the comma is an artifact (that is, the software says "show content-of-first-field, comma, space, content-of-second-field") and it's stupid. Also note CMS 15 17.25: "Authors known only by their given names are listed and alphabetized by those names."

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

oh cool (bookmarks site). So, I have:

Marie de France. The Lais of Marie de France. Trans. Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby. 2nd ed. London: Penguin Books, 2003.

I'm thinking that's close enough for folk music. Or English 371. Whatever.

Thanks!