Aux origines d’une fable de La Fontaine dans les recueils de contes orientaux

Type de document : Original Article

Auteur

Maître assistant, Université Azad Islamique Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Résumé

Fable, allegoric short
story, has its origins for
thousands of years. The Orient,
according to general opinion, was the
birthplace of this genre. In
Europe, before La Fontaine, there were many known fabulists, whose works often lacked artistic aspect. But, the great French fabulist, by his dazzling talent, knew how to act in the composition
of his fables, thanks to the Greco-Latin
and especially oriental sources, to which he had access. As for oriental
fables, although there are many
considerable discussions, there are not
many comparative studies, as there should. This
article encourages us to improve
our knowledge on the source of a selected fable of La
Fontaine "The Tortoise and the
two ducks", by comparing it with its translations in the most famous oriental
collections. Our main purpose is to collect and study a series of scattered
translations of this fable, to
establish a pedagogical approach,
suitable in comparative literature courses.

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