The term 'Fabulation' is an 18th-century Latin word that describes the act of inventing or fabricating false stories. But what does 'fabulation' mean in literature? Let us look at the meaning, themes, purpose and examples of fabulation in literature to find out.
Fabulation meaning
The meaning of fabulation is that it is a form of postmodern fiction that developed in the 20th century that experimented with the traditional conventions of realism by blending fantasy, magic, myth supernatural elements in the narrative.
Fabulation: A mode of contemporary fiction that blends realism and fantasy.
The term fabulation was first coined by the American literary critic Robert Scholes, in his work The Fabulators (1967), to describe 20th-century novels that contained elements similar to magical realism.
He further elaborated on this literary mode through his subsequent essays: Structural Fabulation: An Essay on Fiction of the Future (1975) and Fabulation and Metafiction (1979).
Fabulation main ideas
The main ideas of Fabulation are derived from the genres of metafiction, postmodern fiction and especially magical realism. However, what sets fabulism apart is that it blends fantastical elements from well-known myths, fairy tales, and folktales, and retells these stories in a more realistic setting.
Here is a table of all the genres that often overlap with fabulation:
Genre | Definition | Similarity with Fabulation |
| A literary genre wherein authors choose the everyday lives of ordinary people, primarily from the middle and lower classes, as their subject matter. Realism attempts to represent real life as accurately as possible, without attempting to romanticise or dramatise it. | Fabulation also attempts to recreate myths, fairy tales and folktales in a more realistic setting. It gives mythological characters from fantastical stories more ordinary and human-like characteristics and behaviours so that they are recognisable by modern-day audiences. |
| A subgenre within Realism that integrates fantastical or mystical elements as 'real' and mundane parts of the world where the story is set in. These fantastical elements are considered a normal part of the story’s version of reality. | Fabulation and Magical Realism are genres that are often used interchangeably as they possess the same exact characteristics. The only difference is that the fantastical elements in Fabulation come from pre-existing and well-known fantasy works, such as popular myths, fables and fairytales. |
| A fictional novel that uses narrative techniques and structures to constantly remind the reader that they are reading a work of fiction. | Although not all works of fabulation contain metafictional qualities, there are many fabulist novels that borrow a few of its elements. In most cases, this is done through the use of narrators or characters that are self-aware of their fictionality. |
Postmodernism | A literary movement that developed in the late 20th century that places more emphasis on experimentation with language, wordplay, form, structure and other stylistic conventions rather than the meaning behind the text. Postmodern literature embraced absurdity and randomness, and focus on creating fiction distinct from reality. | Fabulation is a genre that developed during the postmodern movement and is thus experimental in nature. Fabulist works focus less on the meaning and philosophy behind their works and instead focus on twisting traditional fantasy narratives in new, interesting and unexpected ways. |
Fabulation themes
Fabulation has many main themes, many of which coincide with the genres of magical realism. However, here are a few main ideas that set fabulation apart from other similar postmodern fictional genres.
Fantasy
A key idea of fabulist works is that they make use of fantastical and magical elements. However, unlike magical realism, which uses general magical elements, fabulist works recreate the fantastical concepts popularised in famous fairy tales, myths and fables. Usually, it blends these stories in a more realistic setting, to create a more modern retelling of traditional fairytales.
Since the reader is expected to know about the fantastical concepts as they are inspired by famous fairytales and myths, fabulist works rarely explain the magical elements in their stories. Instead, they are normalised as a part of the story's reality and are almost presented as unremarkable and mundane.
C.S Lewis' novel Till We Have Faces (1956) is a fabulist retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche.
Fig. 1 - The ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche.
Allegory
Much like fairytales, myths and fables, works of fabulation serve a didactic purpose. Fabulation uses age-old myths to impart moral lessons through the use of allegories and symbolism.
Allegory: A literary device where a character, place or event or anything that has a physical form personifies a larger idea or moral.
Symbolism: A literary device where when an object, occurrence, or action represents an idea or meaning beyond itself.
Irrealism
Fabulist works are inspired by the literary philosophy of irrealism.
Irrealism is a literary philosophy that believes that the universe has infinite worlds and possibilities, and it is fiction's duty to represent these diverse versions. This means that the world of fiction should not have to necessarily coincide with the accepted version of social reality, and can tap into versions of the universe far beyond human consciousness. This can be done so in a way that is 'normalised' and unexplained by laws of physics, science and technology that bind our current reality.
In an irreal story, however, not only is the physics underlying the
story impossible, as it is in these other genres, but it is also fundamentally and essentially unpredictable (in that it is not based on any traditional or scientific conception of physics) and unexplained.1
In the novel, Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison, strange and supernatural occurrences in the story are treated as unsurprising to the characters in the story, as though it is a part of their everyday lives. The author makes no effort to explain the existence of these supernatural elements as they are taken to be 'normal' parts of the story's version of reality.
In this paragraph, the protagonist of the novel deals with a ghost as though one would deal with a normal person- by having a conversation.
Sethe and Denver decided to end the persecution by calling forth the ghost that tried them so. Perhaps a conversation, they thought..."
(Chapter 1)
Experimentation
Fabulist works often experiment with chronology, plot structure, form, and narrative style. This gives fabulist novels an unpredictable and tense nature. They often surprise the reader with offbeat climaxes, resolutions and cliffhangers.
Fabulist works also experiment with narrative style by often adopting metafictional narrative techniques that often blur the lines between fiction and reality. This could involve:
- Characters that are aware of their fictional nature
- Breaking the fourth wall by allowing the narrator and characters in the story to directly address the readers
- Interjecting commentary by the writer or narrator on the events of the story.
Remember that metafictional novel are novels that are self-aware of their fictionality and re-emphasise this quality through their structure, narrative voice and characters.
Purpose of fabulation
While magical realism often focuses on political and social commentary, fabulist works focus on the entirety of the human experience and impart larger life philosophies to the reader.
As mentioned before, works of fabulation are inspired by well-known traditional fairytales, myths and fables, and therefore, impart the same moral lessons to their readers, but in a way that is entertaining, experimental and understandable. They do so by making complex moral and psychological concepts more allegorical and symbolic so that they are easier to grasp.
By blending reality and fantasy, fabulist works also draw the reader's attention to make social realities more stark and obvious. Since fabulist works subvert reality, they draw our attention to the reader's actual reality and influence them to question what they believed was known, familiar and 'normal'.
Fabulation literature examples
Here are a few examples of literature that falls under fabulation.
Giles Goat-Boy (1966) by John Barth
Giles Goat-Boy (1966) is a postmodern fabulist novel about a human boy raised as a goat, who becomes the Grand Tutor (a Messiah) of the universe. In the novel, the universe is allegorised as a university, whereas great religious leaders are represented as Grand Tutors.
The novel has many recognizable religious and Cold War (1947-1991) allegories. For instance:
- Some of the characters playing 'Grad Tutors' closely resemble famous religious leaders, Greek philosophers, poets and heroes, either by their name or characteristics.
- Satan has been renamed the Dean o' Flunks and resides in the Nether Campus (which represents hell).
- Predictably, the Last Judgment is referred to as the Final Examination.
- Other figures reincarnated as tutors include Jesus Christ, Buddha, Moses, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Odysseus.
Even though the lines between fiction and non-fiction have been blurred within this novel, readers are still able to identify prominent characters and the allegories they represent.
The novel also contains metafictional qualities, as it begins with the text being 'discovered' by the author. Therefore, throughout the novel, the author often provides humorous and insightful commentary on the events taking place within the novel.
American Gods (2001) by Neil Gaiman
American Gods can be considered a fabulist novel as it blends modern and ancient mythology into fiction. In this novel, the protagonist Shadow Moon is caught in a war between the Old American Gods and New American Gods. The Old American Gods are merely modern-day recreations of famous gods from Greek, Egyptian, Welsh, Norse and Hindu mythology. For instance:
- Mr Wednesday is Odin
- Low-Key Lyesmith is Loki,
- Mr Ibis is Thoth
- Mr Jacquel is Anubis
- The Elephant God is Lord Ganesha
- Mama-Ji is Goddess Kali
Similarly, the New American Gods are manifestations of modernity, each one representing technology, Internet, media, globalisation, automobiles, cosmetic surgery and conspiracy theories.
Fabulation - Key takeaways
- Fabulation is a mode of fiction that developed in the 20th century that experimented with the traditional conventions of realism by blending fantasy, magic, myth supernatural elements in the narrative.
- Fabulation is often used interchangeably with the genres of metafiction, postmodern fiction and especially magical realism.
- The main ideas within fabulation include:
- Works of fabulation of well-known traditional fairytales, myths and fables, and therefore, impart the same moral lessons to its readers, but in a way that is entertaining, experimental and understandable.
- Examples of fabulation in literature include:
References
- G.S. Evans. What Is Irrealism?. n.d.
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