Ancient Fables and Literary Genres

Overview & Synopsis

Ancient fables have come down to us in many forms: They were published as fable collections both in prose and verse or embedded in literary works of other genres. The contributions to this volume shed light on the interaction between fables and these literary genres and give an overview of fables from early Greek to medieval literature. They seek to ask what role fables play in individual genres, and which genres in turn find an echo in fables. In the case of fables embedded in other genres, the contributions ask as to which fables are chosen for which theme or genre and how they relate to it, how fables are adapted in other texts, how these embeddings are marked at a textual level, and what purpose they serve. In the case of other genres influencing fable collections, the volume illustrates how fables deal with the question of genre more generally but also with specific works or authors, how they approximate and, at the same time, distinguish themselves from these influences, what the aim of this approximation might be and through which means references to genres are made. The 21 contributions by internationally renowned fable scholars provide, for the first time, an overview of the interaction of fables and other genres.