SOURCE: "Critical Views on Irony in the Fables," in Patterns of Irony in the "Fables" of La Fontaine, pp. 1-30. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1985.

In the following essay, Danner summarizes the evaluations of such La Fontaine scholars as de Mourgues, Runte, and Rubin regarding La Fontaine's use of irony in his Fables. Danner suggests that disagreements between the critical assessments are the result of differing—and not always precise—definitions of irony.

Numerous critics have been aware that irony is a striking and even dominant aspect of La Fontaine's manner in the Fables. Several meanings have been ascribed, however, to the ironic vision ostensibly expressed in this poetry, and one is reminded of Wayne C. Booth's remark that "irony has come to stand for so many things that we are in danger of losing it as a useful term altogether."¹ Happily this confused state of affairs did not...