E X T Before Testatina E N S I O N THE FABLIAU The fabliau is defined as a short narrative in verse with often comic or satiric content. In France, it flourished1 in the 12th and 13th centuries; in England, it was popular in the 14th century. The fabliau is often compared to the later short story. The fabliau seems to have no direct literary predecessor in the West. It was brought from the East by returning crusaders in the 12th century. The closest literary genre is the fable as found in Aesop and Le Roman de Renard (12th c.) its eastern origins or parallels, but it is less moral and less didactic than the fable. In its lack of explicit moralism, it is much closer to the novel than to the parable. The genre has been quite influential: passages in longer medieval poems such as Le Roman de Renard, as well as tales found in collections like Giovanni Boccaccio s Decamerone and Geoffrey Chaucer s Canterbury Tales have their origin in one or several fabliaux. When the fabliau gradually disappeared, at the beginning of the 16th century, it was replaced by the prose short story, which was, however, greatly influenced by its predecessor. Famous French writers, such as Molière, Jean de La Fontaine and Voltaire owe2 much to the tradition of the fabliau. A fabliau depicts3 middle class characters in satirical or openly comic plots, usually concerning sex and/or money. There are considerably more fabliaux in French than in English, and Chaucer s are by far the most sophisticated because they often combine elements of several fabliaux into one tightly4 structured plot. Critics are divided on the issue5 of whether the fabliaux were intended for noble audiences, because the tales made the middle class look so bad, or were intended for the middle class, who liked laughing at themselves. Actually, they could work for a mixed audience which might include nobles, as well as broadminded6 and self-confident men and women of the city. 1. 2. 3. 4. flourished: developed. owe: are indebted. depicts: represents. tightly: closely. 5. issue: question. 6. broadminded: willing to respect other people s behaviour and beliefs, especially sexual behaviour. 50