Discussing the writing of fables, the rhetorician Nicolaus, who taught in Constantinople in the reign of emperor Leo (A.D. 457–474), recommends an approach that aptly describes what we encounter in the collections of Aesop’s fables that survive from antiquity. Nicolaus writes: “The language (phrasis) should be very simple, straightforward, unassuming, and free of all subtlety and periodic expression, so that the meaning is absolutely clear and the words do not appear to be loftier in stature than the actors, especially when these are animals” (Nicolaus, Progymnasmata, 2.11). Writers of fables and fairy tales throughout history, from Phaedrus to Calvino, have cultivated a similar aesthetic – a simple style matched to the putative simplicity of the tales themselves. But what is actually involved in this kind of stylization? How is a simple style of writing determined, how is it achieved? Moreover, do the standards change over time, or is there some stable idea of simplicity that obtains in different times and places?

This one-day conference, in English and Italian, brings together leading scholars of fable, fairy tale, and storytelling to consider the place of style in the history of fable-writing. The central questions to be explored include: What is gained and what is lost when popular forms of storytelling are transformed into literature? How is orality represented in our written sources? Does the collecting and archiving of fables necessitate a kind of stylization and a subsequent loss of authenticity? To what extent does fable/fiaba/favola remain a meaningful idiom for contemporary
writers?

Speakers include: Caterina Mordeglia (Università degli Studi di Trento), Stefano Jedrkiewicz (independent scholar), Giuseppe Crimi (Università degli Studi Roma Tre), Giovanni Zago (Università degli Studi di Firenze), Laura Di Nicola (Sapienza Università di Roma), and Mario Casari (Sapienza Università di Roma).

Presentations will be in English and Italian.

Organizer: Jeremy Lefkowitz, Swarthmore College and American Academy in Rome

This project is made possible by the Fellows Project Fund of the American Academy in Rome.