SOURCE: "La Fontaine's Fables, Book VII: The Problem of Order," in Modern Language Review, Vol. 82, No. 3, July 1987, pp. 573-86.

In the following essay, Slater identifies some organizing principles that seem to govern the grouping of La Fontaine's poetic fables within each of his books, nevertheless concluding that this organization does not serve to underscore any calculated theme or intention.

Should La Fontaine's Fables be viewed as a coherent collection or as a number of disparate poems, carefully composed individually, but with few links between them?¹For this brief study I have concentrated on Book VII. It seems suitable for such a study: as the first Book of the second Recueil of 1678-79, it is well qualified to represent the first flush of collative enthusiasm of the poet, already a successful Fabulist, now about to present to the public a whole new collection.

A first step is to look...