Apologue

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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The English term “apologue” is adopted from the French word spelt the same way and adapted from the Latin “apologus”, meaning story or fable. It is used in English literary criticism to describe an allegorical story, intended to convey a useful, moral lesson, in which animals or inanimate things take part and speak to one another in human language. As a term of criticism, “apologue” has the same meaning as a “fable”. For a fuller definition and history, see the separate entry under “fable”.

84 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Apologue". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 December 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1690, accessed 14 December 2024.]

1690 Apologue 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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