Monarchy and literature in La Fontaine's work

"Everything speaks in my work". With these words, Jean de La Fontaine refers to his Fables, a work which - in the literary panorama of 17th-century France - remains one of the most emblematic and studied by critics. We know that the fabulist lived in a highly complex period, with many implications for the relationship between power and literature, and between the writer and society. La Fontaine, inviting us not to limit our reading to a superficial analysis, prompts us to question his work: in what sense does his work "speak", and is there a direct influence of political power on his work? How can a work such as the Fables, apparently conventional and at the same time charged with universal significance, fit into a wider project of criticism and denunciation of society, and particularly of the political hierarchy? How does La Fontaine achieve his aim of making his fables, a genre born of antiquity, ever relevant and open to interpretation, in the light of the historical events the author experiences?

Autorentext

Federica Basso was born in Italy in 1993. She inherited her passion for foreign languages from her grandfather, Emilio. In 2017, she graduated with a double Master's degree in French Studies from Ca' Foscari University in Venice and Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. She now works in the luxury hotel industry in Milan.

Klappentext

"Everything speaks in my work". With these words, Jean de La Fontaine refers to his Fables, a work which - in the literary panorama of 17th-century France - remains one of the most emblematic and studied by critics. We know that the fabulist lived in a highly complex period, with many implications for the relationship between power and literature, and between the writer and society. La Fontaine, inviting us not to limit our reading to a superficial analysis, prompts us to question his work: in what sense does his work "speak", and is there a direct influence of political power on his work? How can a work such as the Fables, apparently conventional and at the same time charged with universal significance, fit into a wider project of criticism and denunciation of society, and particularly of the political hierarchy? How does La Fontaine achieve his aim of making his fables, a genre born of antiquity, ever relevant and open to interpretation, in the light of the historical events the author experiences?