Lepus in fabula (Fedro, app.28)

This research follows the development of a fable theme from the Greek world (Aesopus and Babrius) to Phaedrus, to medieval paraphrases (Adémar de Chabannes, Romulus) and outlines its variations of characters, setting and plot development in a complex intertwining of transmitted codified schemes and deviations from tradition. Since fables are characterized by typological crystallization, the innovations in characters and setting are never fortuitous, but always strictly connected both to the narrative structure and to the authors’ intentional choices. Furthermore, they imply different reading perspectives and are the result of the intertwining and overlapping of manifold motivations connected to the very nature of this literary genre as well as to the plurality of its functions.