Summary Of Fable

History of the Graeco-Latin Fable

This is the second of three volumes covering the long history of the fable from Sumer to the present day. Historical evidence reaching as far back as Antiquity, supports the study of more than 500 works considered to be fables.

Theories of the Fable in the Eighteenth Century

The Popularity of the fable and the rationale -- La Fontaine and the seventeenth-century forerunners -- Aesop as a popular figure and the fable in England -- Theories of the fable: La Motte and richer -- The Fable in Germany during the first half-century -- French ideas at mid-century -- Lessing's Aesopian fables and the anti-Lessing -- Rousseau and the fable in education -- Dodsley and England at mid-century -- Herder and the romantic turn -- Samaniego, iriarte, and the fable in Spain -- Dissolution of a functioning literary genre.

The Renaissance Imagination