Vibrational reactions in chemistry. Study of oscillatory chemical reactions. Mathematical model by A. Lotkoy

The fable is one of the most popular and oldest literary genres, the same age as myths. Why is it called an eternal genre, what is a fable in literature? Fiction has its roots in the most distant past. Man has always had a rich imagination and curiosity. When some of our ancestors tried to know the world, its structure and origin from a scientific point of view, others were interested in the spiritual side - human relationships, norms of behavior and morality.

All this was reflected in verbal art, folklore. IN folk art There are many works that are moralizing in nature. These are proverbs, parables, fables, fairy tales. Let's try to define a fable and figure out how it differs from other genres.

What is a fable? Definition

A fable is a short moralizing story in prose or verse form, at the beginning or end of which contains a clearly formulated instructive conclusion, or moral. The narration is conducted in an allegorical form, so the characters of the fable are animals, things, plants. Fables ridicule human vices, stupidity and unworthy behavior.

The characters of fairy tales are also animals, but they do not always have human character traits. Fairy tales cover a large period of time, while fables describe only one event, an episode, so they are much shorter than fairy tales.

The history of the fable genre and its role in literature

The role of the fable in the literature of all nations can hardly be overestimated. The birthplace of this genre is considered to be Ancient Greece, where the most famous bansi in prose were written by Aesop (VI-V centuries BC). Mentions and references to his fables are found in the works of Herodotus, Democritus, Aristophanes. The fable went through the stages of a parable, educational and popular literature for an illiterate public, before becoming a proper literary genre.

Its penetration into Europe occurred much later, during the Renaissance, and was associated with the spread of the Greek language. Russian literature got acquainted with the fable at about the same time, in the 15th-16th centuries. Many Russian writers imitated Aesop, translated the works of Lafontaine and other fabulists, but Ivan Andreevich Krylov (1760-1844) achieved real mastery in this genre.

He surpassed his Russian and foreign predecessors. Thanks to Krylov, literary and colloquial speech merged, which greatly enriched the second. Features of the bright Russian character were embodied in his instructive works. The fables of I. A. Krylov have been translated into all languages of the world more than once, because the wisdom of the people, expressed in his works, is instructive and relevant to this day.

A fable has come to us from the depths of centuries.
And if you need advice
Open the volume with the inscription "Krylov",
Re-read these bansi again.

, I. I. Khemnitser, A. E. Izmailov, I. I. Dmitriev, although the first experiments in poetic fables were in the 17th century with Simeon of Polotsk and in the first half of the 18th century with A. D. Kantemir, V. K. Trediakovsky . In Russian poetry, a fable free verse is developed, conveying the intonations of a laid-back and crafty tale.

Philologists of the 19th century were long occupied with the controversy about the priority of the Greek or Indian fable. Now it can be considered almost certain that the common source of the material of the Greek and Indian fable was the Sumero-Babylonian fable.

Antiquity

Greek literature

Before the fable became an independent literary genre, it went through the stage of an instructive example or parable in its development, and then folklore. Only two specimens have survived from the earliest stage. These are the famous parable (αινος) of Odysseus (Od. XIV, 457-506) and the two parables exchanged between Teucer and Menelaus in Sophocles' Ayante (v. 1142-1158).

The prevailing form of the oral fable, corresponding to the second period of the development of the genre, we find for the first time in Greek literature in Hesiod. This is the famous parable (αινος) about the nightingale and the hawk (“Works and Days”, 202-212), addressed to cruel and unjust rulers. In the parable of Hesiod, we already meet all the signs of the fable genre: animal characters, action outside of time and space, sententious morality in the mouth of a hawk.

Greek poetry of the 7th-6th centuries BC. e. known only in scarce passages; some of these passages in separate images echo the fable plots known later. This allows us to assert that the main fable plots of the classical repertoire had already developed by this time in folk art. In one of his poems, Archilochus (ref. 88-95 B) mentions a “parable” about how an eagle offended a fox and was punished for it by the gods; in another poem (ref. 81-83 B) he tells a "parable" about a fox and a monkey. Aristotle attributes to Stesichorus a speech to the citizens of Himera with a fable about a horse and a deer in relation to the threat of the tyranny of Falaris (“Rhetoric”, II, 20, 1393b). The "Carian parable" of the fisherman and the octopus, according to Diogenian, was used by Simonides of Ceos and Timocreon. The fabled form appears quite distinctly in the anonymous scolius about the snake and cancer given by Athenaeus (XV, 695a).

Greek literature of the classical period already relies on a well-established tradition of oral fable. Herodotus introduced the fable into historiography: Cyrus teaches the Ionians who obeyed too late with a “fable” (logos) about a fisherman-flute player (I, 141). Aeschylus used the fable in tragedy: a passage has been preserved outlining the "glorious Libyan fable" (logos) about an eagle struck by an arrow with eagle feathers. In Aristophanes, Pisfeter, in a conversation with birds, brilliantly argues with Aesop's fables about a lark who buried his father in his own head (“Birds”, 471-476) and about a fox offended by an eagle (“Birds”, 651-653), and Trigey refers to a fable in an explanation of his flight on a dung beetle (“ World”, 129-130), and the entire final part of the comedy “ Wasps” is built on playing out fables inappropriately used by Philokleon.

Middle Ages

General cultural decline dark ages” equally plunged both Avian and Romulus into oblivion, from where they were extracted by a new revival of medieval culture in the 12th century. Since that time, we find in medieval Latin literature no less than 12 revisions of Romulus and no less than 8 revisions of Avian.

Apparently, around the 11th century, an edition known as "Nilantov Romulus"(named after the philologist I.F. Nilant, who first published this collection in 1709) of 50 fables; Christianization of morals is noticeable in places.
Probably, at the beginning of the XII century, "Nilantov Romulus" was translated into English and supplemented with numerous plots of new European origin - fairy tales, legends, fablio, etc. - the authorship of the resulting collection was attributed to the famous king Alfred. This "English Romulus" not preserved.
However, in the last third of the 12th century, it was translated in verse into French by the Anglo-Norman poetess Mary of France (under the title "Isopet") and in this form became widely known; and two back-translations into Latin were made from the collection of Mary of France.
- This is, firstly, the so-called "Expanded Romulus", a collection of 136 fables (79 fables from Romulus, 57 developing new plots), set out in great detail, in a rough fairy-tale style; the collection served as the basis for two German translations.
- Secondly, this is the so-called "Robert Romulus"(after the name of the original publisher, 1825), a collection of 22 fables, presented concisely, without any fabulous influence and with a claim to grace.

Two more poetic arrangements were made in the second half of the 12th century. Both transcriptions are in elegiac distich, but differ in style.

The first of them contains 60 fables: the presentation is very rhetorically magnificent, replete with antitheses, annominations, parallelisms, etc. This collection was very popular until the Renaissance (more than 70 manuscripts, 39 editions only in the 15th century) and was translated more than once into French, German and Italian(Among these translations is the famous Lyon Izopet). The author's name was not indicated; since 1610, when Isaac Nevelet included this collection in his edition of Mythologia Aesopica, the designation Anonymous Neveleti.
The second collection of poetic arrangements of "Romulus" was compiled somewhat later; its author is Alexander Neckam. His collection is titled "New Aesop" and consists of 42 fables. Neckam writes more simply and sticks closer to the original. At first, Neckam's collection was a success, but soon it was completely eclipsed by Anonymus Neveleti, and it remained in obscurity until the 19th century.

Fables were extracted from Romulus and inserted into the Historical Mirror by Vincent from Beauvais (XIII century) - the first part of a huge medieval encyclopedia in 82 books. Here (IV, 2-3), the author, having reached in his presentation to “the first year of the reign of King Cyrus”, reports that this year the fabulist Aesop died in Delphi, and on this occasion sets out 29 fables in 8 chapters. These fables, says the author, can be successfully used in the preparation of sermons.

In some manuscripts, the fables of "Romulus" are joined by the so-called fabulae extravagantes - fables of unknown origin, set out in a very folk language, in detail and colorfully, and approaching the type of an animal tale.

Of the two prose paraphrases of Avian, one is without a title, the other is indicated as Apologi Aviani.
Three poetic paraphrases are titled "New Avian", are made in elegiac distichs and date back to the 12th century. The author of one of the paraphrases calls himself vates astensis("a poet from Asti", a city in Lombardy). Another one belongs again to Alexander Neckam.

rebirth

During the Renaissance, the spreading knowledge of the Greek language gave the European reader access to the primary source - to the Greek fables of Aesop. Since 1479, when the Italian humanist Accursius published the first printed edition of Aesop's fables, the development of a new European fable begins.

Fable in Russian literature

In 1731, Antiochus Cantemir wrote, imitating Aesop, six fables. Also, Vasily Tredyakovsky, Alexander Sumarokov performed with fables (the first gave imitations of Aesop, the second - translations from La Fontaine and independent fables).

The fables of Ivan Khemnitser (1745-84), who translated La Fontaine and Christian Gellert, but also wrote independent fables, become artistic; Ivan Dmitriev (1760-1837), who translated the French: La Fontaine, Florian, Antoine de Lamotte, Antoine Vincent Arnault, and Alexander Izmailov (1779-1831), most of whose fables are independent. Izmailov's contemporaries and the generation closest to him greatly appreciated his fables for their naturalness and simplicity, giving the author the name "Russian Tenier" and "Krylov's friends".

The fable genre is a fictional incident, a fiction told for embellishment, for the sake of a red word, an allegorical, instructive story, a fable, a fable, a parable where it is customary to display animals and even things verbally.

A fable is the oldest genre of verbal art, a work of small volume. But this does not detract from its merits. The moral given by the author at the beginning of the work helps readers to tune in to the right mood, immediately and accurately understand the author’s thoughts expressed in Aesop’s language. It is important to understand why the fable was written, what is its main meaning. With its help, a person, just barely feeling like a person, was looking for an answer to the question: how to behave in this huge complex world?

The main instructive thought of the fable is morality. This is what makes it related to the parable. Animals, plants, birds, fish, things act as characters in the fable. Heroes behave like human beings, endowed human qualities. We learn character traits and features of human behavior, to which the author disapproves, ridicules or condemns them.

The language of fables is easy, simple, they are remembered well, and especially the beginning and end, in which the most important thing is most often said.

A special place in the formation and development of the genre belongs to Ancient Greece. Scientists believe that the first fable that has come down to us belongs to Hesiod (VIII - VII century BC) - this is a parable about a nightingale and a hawk, addressed to cruel and unjust rulers.

If something can be proved by deeds, then there is no need to waste words on it.

Whether the evil is great or small, it should not be done.

The true treasure for people is the ability to work.

The first to write and tell fables was Aesop, who lived in ancient Greece on the island of Samos in the sixth-fifth centuries BC. His fables were prosaic.

The style was simple and only slightly rose above everyday speech.

Aesop, unable to express his thoughts directly, told in fables about the life of animals, referring to the relationship of people. Aesopian language, understandable to the sophisticated reader, made it possible to avoid persecution and express forbidden thoughts using various techniques. First of all, silences and omissions were used. Irony was also widely used for Aesopian purposes.

Aesop is a Phrygian by birth. He was ugly, but wise and had a literary talent. Aesop was a slave of the wealthy Samian citizen Iadmon. Later he was released, and spent some time at the court of the Lydian king Croesus. Aesop was accused of sacrilege by the Delphic priests and was thrown off a cliff.

Later, Aesop's name became a symbol. His works were passed from mouth to mouth. And in the third century BC, his fables were recorded in 10 books. There is reason to believe that at the end of the fifth century, a written collection of Aesopian fables was known in Athens, according to which children were taught in schools. “You are an ignorant and lazy person, you haven’t even learned Aesop,” says one character in Aristophanes.

Later, Aesop's fables were translated, often revised, transcribed in verse into many languages of the world, including the famous fablers Jean La Fontaine and Ivan Krylov. Some of Aesop's fables were retold in prose for children by L. N. Tolstoy.

In Russian, a complete translation of all Aesop's fables was published in 1968.

There is nothing more dangerous than an ignorant friend

More flies drown in food than in vinegar.

J. La Fontaine

Aesop's traditions were continued in the work of other authors. In the 17th century, the ancient genre was exalted by the French writer La Fontaine.

Jean La Fontaine is a famous French fabulist. From childhood, he was distinguished by a rebellious disposition, he was sent to study law at the Parisian oratorian seminary.

The literary fame of Lafontaine is based entirely on his fables, which he composed exclusively for the high Parisian society, for the court aristocracy.

Composing his fables, Lafontaine drew inspiration from primary sources: Aesop, Phaedrus. Aesop's fable had a practical purpose, being an illustration of a lesson. In La Fontaine, the center of gravity gradually shifts to the story.

Lafontaine's task is to tell an old fable in a new, fresh and original way. He introduces a lot of new, real-life material into the traditional plot framework. Lafontaine's fables show a broad picture of contemporary French life.

Features of Lafontaine's style are closely related to his worldview. It is based on clarity, sobriety and accuracy of observation of reality at the same time - a keen sense of the contradictions of this reality, gives rise to a humorous, mocking interpretation of events.

The fables of Jean Lafontaine had a tremendous influence on the development of all European literature. In Russia, all prominent Russian fabulists followed in the footsteps of Lafontaine: Sumarokov, Izmailov, Dmitriev, Krylov.

I love where there is a chance, to pinch vices.

It's good to be strong

Being smart is twice as good.

A helpful fool is more dangerous than an enemy.

I. A. Krylov

For the true glory of his talent and for the history of Russian literature, the famous Russian fabulist Ivan Andreevich Krylov was born only when he was forty years old. He realized his destiny and dedicated his work to the fable. In 1808 the first edition of his Fables appeared.

The book was sold like hot cakes and brought Krylov a huge success. It was printed a lot. Although Krylov often used the plots of Aesop, La Fontaine, his works are absolutely independent. There are only 30 fables on borrowed plots, the rest belong to him both in fiction and in story. Krylov inherited the tradition of identifying people with animals from his predecessors.

But the skill of Krylov, the fabulist, does not consist in imitation of this tradition. The fables of I. A. Krylov are perfect in terms of the power of expression, the beauty of the form and liveliness of the story, subtle humor and purely folk language. The famous fabulist ruthlessly executed with laughter all the shortcomings of the human race, all evil, various types of stupidity and vulgarity, attributing these shortcomings to animals, and did it with brilliance.

The fact that folk expressions have dissolved in the language of Krylov's fables is one of its features.

Zhukovsky wrote that Krylov's fables taught readers to "love the native language". This is a living folk speech, which Krylov boldly introduced into Russian poetry. This is a feature of the fables of I. A. Krylov. The great fabulist made a huge contribution to the formation of the Russian literary language.

And vice versa, many expressions began to be perceived as proverbs “And Vaska listens and eats”, “And the chest just opened”, “I didn’t notice the elephant.”

Clever and caustic fables of Krylov raised entire generations of advanced people, and Krylov himself in each new era found himself in the ranks of the best progressive writers.

Krylov's fables are a special world that comes to us in childhood, but unlike many children's books, then it does not go anywhere, but remains with us forever.

I. A. Krylov was one of the best writers. Derzhavin himself highly appreciated his talent. Foreigners, as well as Russians, revered Krylov's talent. His fables, especially those with more national flavor, were translated into various European languages.

And people carry through life what they learned from such seemingly simple Krylov's fables. Everyone knows that “an obliging fool is more dangerous than an enemy”, that “the strong one is always to blame”, that “it’s a disaster if the shoemaker starts the pies, and the pieman makes boots”, that “flattery is vile, harmful”, but “in the heart there is always a flatterer find a corner."

Having reached such a brilliant flowering in the work of Krylov, the fable almost disappeared from Russian literature for more than a century.

In Soviet times, the fable was presented in the work of Demyan Bedny. Today, the fable traditions are continued by S. V. Mikhalkov, S. I. Oleinik.

The fable genre is still relevant today, so we decided to try our hand at this field.

Thanks to this project, we learned a lot about the fable as a literary genre and its features.

We got acquainted with the work of famous fabulists: Aesop, Jean La Fontaine, I. A. Krylov, and tried our creative powers in this genre.

In India, the Panchatantra collection of fables dates back to the 3rd century. The most prominent fabulist of modern times was the French poet Jean La Fontaine (XVII century).

In Russia, the development of the fable genre dates back to the middle of the 18th - early XIX centuries and is associated with the names of A.P. Sumarokov, I.I. Khemnitser, A.E. Izmailov, I.I. D. Kantemir, V. K. Trediakovsky. Russian poetry develops a fable free verse, conveying the intonations of a laid-back and crafty tale.

The fables of I. A. Krylov, with their realistic liveliness, sensible humor and excellent language, marked the heyday of this genre in Russia. During the Soviet era, the fables of Demyan Bedny, Sergei Mikhalkov and others gained popularity.

1. History
- 1.1 Origin
- 1.2 Antiquity
  - 1.2.1 Greek literature
  - 1.2.2 Rhetoric
  - 1.2.3 Roman literature
- 1.3 Middle Ages
- 1.4 Revival
2 Fable in Russian literature
3 Animal fables
4 Fabulists
5 See also
6 Notes
7 Literature
8 Links

Story

Origin

There are two theories about the origin of the fable. The first is represented by the German school of Otto Crusius, A. Hausrath, and others, the second by the American scientist B. E. Perry. According to the first concept, the story is primary in the fable, and morality is secondary; the fable comes from the animal tale, and the animal tale comes from the myth. According to the second concept, morality is primary in a fable; the fable is close to comparisons, proverbs and sayings; like them, the fable arises as aid argumentation. The first point of view goes back to the romantic theory of Jacob Grimm, the second one revives Lessing's rationalistic concept.

Antiquity

Greek literature

Greek poetry of the 7th-6th centuries BC. e. known only in scarce passages; some of these passages in separate images echo the fable plots known later. This allows us to assert that the main fable plots of the classical repertoire had already developed by this time in folk art. in one of his poems, Archilochus (ref. 88-95 B) mentions a “parable” about how an eagle offended a fox and was punished for it by the gods; in another poem (ref. 81-83 B) he tells a "parable" about a fox and a monkey. Aristotle attributes to Stesichorus a speech to the citizens of Himera with a fable about a horse and a deer in relation to the threat of the tyranny of Falaris (Rhetoric, II, 20, 1393b). The Carian parable of the fisherman and the octopus, according to Diogenian, was used by Simonides of Ceos and Timocreon. The fabled form appears quite distinctly in the anonymous scolius about the snake and cancer given by Athenaeus (XV, 695a).

Greek literature of the classical period already relies on a well-established tradition of oral fable. Herodotus introduced the fable into historiography: Cyrus instructs the Ionians who obeyed too late with a “fable” (logos) about a fisherman-flute player (I, 141). Aeschylus used the fable in tragedy: a passage has been preserved outlining the "glorious Libyan fable" (logos) about an eagle struck by an arrow with eagle feathers. In Aristophanes, Pisfeter, in a conversation with birds, brilliantly argues with Aesop's fables about a lark who buried his father in his own head ("Birds", 471-476) and about a fox offended by an eagle ("Birds", 651-653), and Trigay refers to a fable in an explanation of his flight on a dung beetle (“The World”, 129-130), and the entire final part of the comedy “The Wasps” is built on playing out fables inappropriately used by Philokleon.

Democritus commemorates the "Aesopian dog", which was destroyed by greed (ref. 224 D.); Close to this genre are Prodicus in his famous allegory about Hercules at the crossroads (Xenophon, "Memories of Socrates", II, 1) and Protagoras in his fable (mythos) about the creation of man (Plato, "Protagoras", 320 ff.); Antisthenes refers to the fable of lions and hares (Aristotle, "Politics", III, 8, 1284a, 15); his student Diogenes composes the dialogues "Leopard" and "Jackdaw" (Diog. Laertes., VI, 80). Socrates in Xenophon tells a fable about a dog and sheep (“Memoirs”, II, 7, 13-14), in Plato he recalls that a fox said “in Aesop’s fable” (mythos) to a sick lion about the tracks leading to his cave (“ Alcibiades I", 123a), and even composes in imitation of Aesop a fable about how nature inextricably linked suffering with pleasure ("Phaedo", 60c). Plato even claims that Socrates, who never composed anything, shortly before his death transcribed the Aesopian fables (Phaedo, 60s) into verse - a story clearly fictional, but willingly taken on faith by descendants (Plutarch, How to Listen to Poets, 16s; Diog. Laertes, II, 42).

Rhetoric

At the turn of the classical and Hellenistic eras, from "high" literature, the fable descends into educational literature intended for children, and into popular literature, addressed to an uneducated grassroots public. The fable becomes the monopoly of schoolteachers and philosophical preachers. This is how the first collections of fables appear (for the needs of teaching), and the third period in the history of the fable genre in antiquity begins - the period of transition from oral to literary fable. The first collection of Aesopian fables that has come down to us is the Logon Aisopeion Synagoge by Demetrius of Phaler, compiled at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. e. Demetrius of Phaler was a peripatetic philosopher, a student of Theophrastus; in addition, he was an orator and theoretician of eloquence. The collection of Demetrius, apparently, served as the basis and model for all later recordings of fables. Even in the Byzantine era, fable collections were published under his name.

Collections of such records were, first of all, raw material for school rhetorical exercises, but soon ceased to be the exclusive property of the school and began to be read and copied like real "folk books". Later manuscripts of such collections have come down to us in very large numbers under the conditional name of "Aesop's fables." Researchers distinguish among them three main reviews (editions):

the oldest, the so-called Augustan, apparently dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. e., and written in everyday koine of that time;
the second, the so-called Vienna, refers to the VI-VII centuries and processes the text in the spirit of popular speech;
the third, the so-called Akkursievskaya, which breaks up into several sub-reviews, was created during one of the Byzantine Renaissance (according to one opinion - in the 9th century, according to another - in the 14th century) and reworked in the spirit of Atticism, fashionable in the then literature.

The Augustan edition is a collection of more than two hundred fables, all of which are more or less homogeneous in type and cover the range of fable plots that later became the most traditional. The writing of the fables is simple and brief, limited to conveying the plot basis without any minor details and motivations, tending to stereotypical formulas for recurring plot points. Separate collections of fables vary greatly both in composition and in wording.

In the rhetorical school, the fable took a firm place among the "progymnasms" - preparatory exercises with which the training of the rhetor began. The number of pro-gymnasms ranged from 12 to 15; in the finally established system, their sequence was as follows: fable, story, hriya, maxim, refutation and affirmation, common place, praise and censure, comparison, etopoeia, description, analysis, statute. The fable, among other simple progymnasms, was apparently originally taught by a grammarian and only then passed into the hands of a rhetorician. Special textbooks containing theoretical description and examples of each type of exercise. Four such textbooks have come down to us, belonging to the rhetors Theon (end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd century AD), Hermogenes (2nd century), Aphtonius (4th century) and Nicholas (5th century), as well as extensive comments on them, compiled already in the Byzantine era, but based on materials from the same ancient tradition (the commentary on Aphtonius, compiled by Doxopater, XII century, is especially rich in material). General definition fable, unanimously accepted by all progymnasmatics, says: “A fable is a fictional story that is an image of the truth” (mythes esti logos pseudes, eikônizôn aletheian). The moral in the fable was defined as follows: "This is a maxim (logos) added to the fable and explaining the useful meaning contained in it." The moral at the beginning of the fable is called the promythium; the moral at the end of the fable is the epimyth.

The place of the fable among other forms of argumentation was outlined by Aristotle in Rhetoric (II, 20, 1393a23-1394a 18). Aristotle distinguishes two ways of persuasion in rhetoric - an example (paradeigma) and an enthymema (enthymema), respectively, similar to induction and deduction in logic. The example is subdivided into a historical example and a fictional example; the fictional example is in turn subdivided into a parabola (that is, a conditional example) and a fable (that is, a concrete example). The development of a fable in theory and practice was closed within the walls of grammatical and rhetorical schools; fables did not penetrate into public oratory practice.

Roman literature

In Roman literature, in the "iambes" of Callimachus of Cyrene, we find two incidentally inserted fables. "Saturah" Ennius retold in verse the fable of the lark and the reaper, and his successor Lucilius - the fable of the lion and the fox. Horace cites fables about a field and city mouse (“Satires”, II, 6, 80-117), about a horse and a deer (“Messages”, I, 10, 34-38), about an overstuffed fox (“Messages”, I, 7, 29-33), about a frog imitating a bull (“Satires”, II, 3, 314-319), and about a fox imitating a lion (“Satires”, II, 3, 186), about a lion and a fox (“ Messages ”, I, 1, 73-75), about a jackdaw in stolen feathers (“Messages”, I, 3, 18-20), compares himself and his book with a drover and a donkey (“Messages”, I, 20, 14 -15), at the sight of a sly man he thinks of a crow and a fox ("Satires", II, 5, 55), at the sight of an ignoramus - about a donkey and a lyre ("Messages", II, 1, 199). At the turn of our era, the period of the formation of a literary fable begins.

In the literary fable, two opposite directions in the development of the fable genre were outlined: the plebeian, moralistic direction of Phaedrus (fable-satire) and the aristocratic, aesthetic direction of Babrius (fable-tale). All late Latin fable literature ultimately goes back to either Phaedrus or Babrius. Avian was the successor of the Babrian line of fable in Roman literature. The continuation of the Fedrov tradition was the late Latin collection of fables, known as "Romulus".

Middle Ages

The general cultural decline of the "dark ages" equally plunged both Avian and "Romulus" into oblivion, from where they were extracted by a new revival of medieval culture in the 12th century. Since that time, we find in medieval Latin literature no less than 12 revisions of Romulus and no less than 8 revisions of Avian.

Apparently, around the 11th century, an edition known as "Nilantov Romulus"(named after the philologist I.F. Nilant, who first published this collection in 1709) of 50 fables; Christianization of morals is noticeable in places.
Probably, at the beginning of the XII century, "Nilantov Romulus" was translated into English language and supplemented by numerous plots of new European origin - fairy tales, legends, fablio, etc. - the authorship of the resulting collection was attributed to the famous king Alfred. This "English Romulus" not preserved.
However, in the last third of the 12th century, it was translated in verse into French Anglo-Norman poet Mary of France (called "Izopet") and in this form became widely known; and from the collection of Marie of France two back-translations were made into Latin language.
- This is, firstly, the so-called "Expanded Romulus", a collection of 136 fables (79 fables from Romulus, 57 developing new plots), set out in great detail, in a rough fairy-tale style; the collection served as the basis for two German translations.
- Secondly, this is the so-called "Robert Romulus"(after the name of the original publisher, 1825), a collection of 22 fables, presented concisely, without any fabulous influence and with a claim to grace.

Two more poetic arrangements were made in the second half of the 12th century. Both arrangements are made in elegiac distich, but differ in style.

The first of them contains 60 fables: the presentation is very rhetorically magnificent, replete with antitheses, annominations, parallelisms, etc. This collection was very popular until the Renaissance (more than 70 manuscripts, 39 editions only in the 15th century) and was translated more than once into French, German and Italian (among these translations is the famous "Isopetus of Lyon"). The author's name was not indicated; since 1610, when Isaac Nevelet included this collection in his edition of Mythologia Aesopica, the designation Anonymous Neveleti.
The second collection of poetic arrangements of "Romulus" was compiled somewhat later; its author is Alexander Neckam. His collection is titled "New Aesop" and consists of 42 fables. Neckam writes more simply and sticks closer to the original. At first, Neckam's collection was a success, but it was soon completely eclipsed by Anonymus Neveleti, and it remained in obscurity until the 19th century.

Fables were extracted from Romulus and inserted into the Historical Mirror by Vincent of Beauvais (XIII century) - the first part of a huge medieval encyclopedia in 82 books. Here (IV, 2-3), the author, having reached in his presentation to “the first year of the reign of King Cyrus”, reports that this year the fabulist Aesop died in Delphi, and on this occasion sets out 29 fables in 8 chapters. These fables, says the author, can be successfully used in the preparation of sermons.

Of the two prose paraphrases of Avian, one is without a title, the other is indicated as Apologi Aviani.
Three poetic paraphrases are titled "New Avian", are made in elegiac distichs and date back to the 12th century. The author of one of the paraphrases calls himself vates Astensis (“poet from Asti”, a city in Lombardy). Another one belongs again to Alexander Neckam.

rebirth

Fable in Russian literature

The fable penetrated into Russian literature several centuries ago. Already in the XV-XVI centuries, fables that came through Byzantium from the East were popular. Later, the fables of Aesop became known, whose biographies were in great circulation in the 17th and 18th centuries (lubok books).

In 1731, Antiochus Cantemir wrote, imitating Aesop, six fables. Also, Vasily Tredyakovsky, Alexander Sumarokov performed fables (the first gave imitations of Aesop, the second - translations from La Fontaine and independent fables).

The fable of Ivan Andreevich Krylov (1768-1844), translated into almost all Western European and some Eastern languages, reached brilliant perfection. Translations and imitations occupy a completely inconspicuous place with him. For the vast majority of their parts, Krylov's fables are quite original. Krylov still had support in his work in the fables of Aesop, Phaedrus, La Fontaine. Having reached its highest limit, the fable after Krylov disappears as a special kind of literature, and remains only in the form of a joke or a parody.

fable animals

Animal fables are fables in which animals (wolf, owl, fox) act as a person. The fox is cunning, the owl is wisdom. The goose is considered stupid, the lion - courageous, the snake - insidious. The qualities of fairy animals are interchangeable. Fairy animals represent certain characteristic features of people.

The moralized natural science of ancient animal fables eventually took shape in collections known under the title of "Physiologist".

fabulists

Jean de La Fontaine
I. A. Krylov
Demyan Bedny
Olesya Emelyanova
Vasily Maykov
Avian
Babriy
Sergei Mikhalkov
Alexander Sumarokov
Ivan Dmitriev
Ludwig Holberg
Grigory Savvich Skovoroda
Pyotr Gulak-Artemovsky
Levko Borovikovsky
Evgeniy Grebyonka
Leonid Glibov
L. N. Tolstoy
David Sedaris (English) Russian

Notes

FEB: Eiges. Fable // Dictionary of literary terms. T. 1. - 1925 (text)
"Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk"

Literature

Gasparov M. L. Antique literary fable. - M., 1972.
Grintser P. A. On the question of the relationship between ancient Indian and ancient Greek fables. - Grintser P. A. Selected works: 2 vols. - M .: RGGU, 2008. - T. T. 1. Ancient Indian literature. - S. 345-352.

Links

Fable // encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
Fables on "Parables and Tales of East and West"

the fable of the wolf and the lamb, the fable of the crow and the fox, the fable of the quartet, the fable of Krylov, the fable of the swan, cancer and pike, the fable of the fly, the fable of the pig under the oak, the fable of the elephant and the pug, the fable of the dragonfly and the ant, this fable

Fable Information About

We love to read fables since childhood. Many of us have images from fables that pop up in our heads in certain situations. These short stories, small in size, but with deep meaning, teach us the mind-reason and accompany us through life.

What is a fable?

A fable is a short moralizing story that has an allegorical satirical character. In fables, as a rule, the characters are not people, but animals that have human characteristics. personal qualities: cunning - to a fox, stubbornness - to crayfish or rams, wisdom - to an owl, stupidity - to a monkey. The subjects can also act as the protagonists of these short stories.

The speech form of a fable is either prose or poetry. In fables, motives of social criticism are quite often present, but human vices and wrong deeds are often ridiculed.

The emergence of satirical stories-fables in Rus'

A fable is a story that appeared in Rus' as a translation of Aesop's writings in the early 17th century. The first translator was Fedor Kasyanovich Gozvinsky. It was he who first introduced the definition of a fable as a literary genre. It was believed that a fable is a small work in prose or verse, which is built on the principles of allegory and contains a moralizing character. The truth was revealed through a false story.

In the 18th century, Antioch D.K., Trediakovsky V.K., Sumarokov A.P., Khemnitser I.I. worked in this genre. They translated fable stories, mainly Aesop, as well as the works of European fabulists: H. Gellert, G. Lessing, T. Moore, Jean de La Fontaine.

It was Ivan Ivanovich Khemnitser who was the first to start creating his own fable. In 1779, his collection was published under the title "Fables and Tales of NN in Verse". Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev continued the tradition of publishing his own fables, who tried to form a new, own approach to literature. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the works of Izmailov A.E. were popular. However, the most significant contribution to the development of the fable genre is considered to be the work of the great classic Ivan Andreevich Krylov. Derzhavin, Polotsky, Khvostov, Fonvizin, Bedny and many others also addressed this genre at different times.

What is a metaphor

A fable is a work in which the authors use metaphors - a kind of paths in which properties are transferred from one object to another. A metaphor is a covert simile in which the main words are actually omitted but implied. So, for example, human negative qualities(stubbornness, cunning, flattery) are transferred to animals or inanimate objects.

fable animals

In fact, the fable is heroes-animals with a human character. They act like a person. Cunning is peculiar to the fox, deceit - to the snake. Goose, as a rule, is identified with stupidity. Leo is assigned courage, bravery and courage. An owl is considered wise, and a ram or donkey is stubborn. Each of the characters must have one feature person. The moralized natural history of animals from the fables was eventually compiled into a series of collections known as common name"Physiologist".

The concept of morality in a fable

A fable is a short story of an instructive nature. We often think that we should not think about what we read and look for secret meaning in words. However, this is fundamentally wrong if we want to learn to better understand each other. It is necessary to learn from a fable, to ponder it. The moral of the fable is its brief moralizing conclusion. It covers the entire problem rather than focusing on any particular episode. The fables are written in such a way that a person not only laughs at its content, but also understands his own miscalculations and at least tries to improve for the better.

The benefits of fables

The problems of life that are ridiculed in fables are limitless and endless. Laziness, lies, stupidity, ignorance, boasting, stubbornness, greed are most often criticized. Each of us can find a character similar to himself in fables. All the situations that are described in these small satirical stories are very vital and realistic. Thanks to irony, the fable teaches not only to notice certain vices in oneself, but also makes one attempt to improve oneself. Reading humorous works of this nature has a very beneficial effect on the psychological health of a person.

In fables, among other things, the political system of the state, the social problems of society and generally accepted counterfeit values are often ridiculed.

The fable "The Crow and the Fox" - what is the moral?

Perhaps this is one of the most famous creations of Krylov. The author warns his readers - you can not be too gullible, follow everyone's lead. Do not blindly believe those who flatter and praise you for no reason. After all, it is known that by nature a crow cannot sing, but she still believed in the laudatory odes of a cunning fox. Significantly, the author does not condemn the quick-witted fox. Rather, he criticizes the stupidity of the bird, saying that you need to believe only in what you see and know for sure.

Fable "Convoy" - for children or adults?

In this work, Krylov compares the actions of a young horse and a more experienced one (a good horse). The old horse moves slowly, unhurriedly, thinking through each step in order to lower the cart safe and sound. But a young and too boastful horse considers himself better and smarter and constantly reproaches the old horse. In the end, everything ends sadly.

The fable is a display historical events. "Convoy" is just such a work. The author identifies the heroes of the fable with the participants in the battle of Austrelitz, which took place in 1805. Mikhail Kutuzov, who was a brilliant commander, quite often retreated and delayed major battles, knowing and understanding the weakness of his army. However, Emperor Alexander I did not like this state of affairs at all. It was just before that ill-fated battle that he decided to take the situation into his own hands and lead the army, which led to the defeat of the Russian-Austrian coalition.