Aesopian language

(named after the fabulist Aesop) - cryptography in literature, an allegory that deliberately masks the thought (idea) of the author. He resorts to a system of "deceptive" techniques (allegory, paraphrase, irony, etc.), pseudonyms, contrasts, etc.

encyclopedic Dictionary

Aesopian Language

(named after the fabulist Aesop), cryptography in literature, an allegory that deliberately masks the thought (idea) of the author. Coming to the system "fraud": traditional allegorical devices (allegory, irony, paraphrase, allusion), fable "characters", translucent contextual pseudonyms (fairy tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin).

Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

Aesopian language

(named after the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop) - cryptography in literature, allegorical artistic speech, deliberately masking the thought (idea) of the author.

RB: Language. Visual and expressive means

Xing: Aesopian language

Genre: fable, parable, fairy tale

Ass: allegory, irony 1, paraphrase

Example: N. Chernyshevsky. "What to do?": Rakhmetov "was little at home", "everyone went and traveled around" (the revolutionary activity of Rakhmetov is implied).

M. Saltykov-Shchedrin: "The wrathful movements of history" (revolutions are implied).

* "Aesopian language was forced - bypassing censorship - to often use in their journalistic and works of art many Russian writers of the XIX century. Aesopian language is a peculiar form of satirical speech "(A.S. Suleimanov). *

Political Science: Dictionary-Reference

Aesopian language

(by the name other Greek fabulist Aesop)

a means of political struggle, a special type of secret writing, censored allegory, which was used by fiction, criticism, journalism, deprived of freedom of expression under conditions of censorship (see Censorship).

As a reaction to the ban on touching on certain ideas, topics, events, names, the "Aesopian language" developed, for example, in the Russian press of the late 18th - early. 20th century a system of "deceptive means", methods of encryption (and decryption) of free thought. A specific role was played in it by fable images, allegorical "fabulous descriptions" (especially by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, who introduced the expression "Aesopian language.") into wide use, translucent periphrases and pseudonyms (A. V. Amfiteatrov's pamphlet "Lords Obmanovy" about the royal family), hidden allusions and more direct allusions, irony (“full of tact”, it was invulnerable to censorship), etc. The denunciations of domestic reality were veiled by “foreign” topics, an everyday phrase became a mockery (for example, “What do you want? "- about the newspaper "New Time" by A.S. Suvorin). The reader knew that great work"- this is a revolution, "realist" - K. Marx, "disappeared from anthologies" - V. G. Belinsky or N. G. Chernyshevsky. In this sense, the "Aesopian language" was publicly available and served as a means not only of political struggle, but also realistic art of the word. Over time, the style of satire subjugated the techniques characteristic of the "Aesopian language", and now the politician, the writer resorts to them regardless of any pressure of censorship. Separately and in combination, interacting with other ways of word usage, techniques " Aesopian language" have become features of specific individual styles (for example, "Penguin Island" by A. Frans, works by M. A. Bulgakov, "War with Salamanders", "Heart of a Dog", various genres of science fiction (K. Chapek), humor and satire (M. Zadornov).

Aesopian language(named after the fabulist Aesop) - cryptography in literature, an allegory that deliberately masks the thought (idea) of the author. He resorts to a system of "deceptive means": traditional allegorical devices (allegory, irony, paraphrase, allusion), fable "characters", translucent contextual pseudonyms. The slave Aesop could not directly point out the vices of the masters in his fables, so he replaced their images with animals with the corresponding characteristics. Since then, the language of allegories has been called Aesop's.

In Russian literature, the tradition of using this technique has been formed since the end of the 18th century to circumvent censorship. This technique was widely used by the satirist Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Subsequently, Aesopian language in satire became part of individual style many writers and was also used outside of censorship pressure.

The use of the Aesopian language was investigated by the literary critic Lev Losev. He defined the Aesopian language as a literary system of interaction between the author and the reader, in which the meaning remains hidden from the censor.

What is Aesopian language and what is its significance in modern literature

We have repeatedly heard the expression "Aesopian language." What does this term mean and where does it come from? It is not known for certain whether such a person lived, or is this a collective image. There are many legends about him, and in the Middle Ages his biography was compiled. According to legend, he was born in the VI century BC. e. in Asia Minor and was a slave of the Lydian king Croesus, however, a dodgy mind, ingenuity and cunning helped him gain freedom and glorified him for many generations.

Naturally, it was the founding father of this technique who first applied the Aesopian language. Examples of it are given to us by a legend that tells that Croesus, having drunk too much, began to assure that he could drink the sea, and made a bet, putting his entire kingdom at stake. The next morning, having sobered up, the king turned to his slave for help, and promised to grant him freedom if he would help him out. The wise servant advised him to say: “I promised to drink only the sea, without the rivers and streams that flow into it. Shut them down and I will keep my promise." And since no one could fulfill this condition, Croesus won the bet.

Being a slave, and then a freedman, the sage wrote fables in which he ridiculed stupidity, greed, lies and other vices of people he knew - mainly his former master and his slave-owning friends. But since he was a bonded man, he clothed his narrative in allegories, paraphrases, resorted to allegories, and brought out his heroes under the names of animals - foxes, wolves, crows, etc. This is the Aesopian language. The characters in the funny stories were easily recognizable, but the "prototypes" could do nothing but rage silently. In the end, ill-wishers planted a vessel stolen from the temple for Aesop, and the priests of Delphi accused him of theft and sacrilege. The sage was given the choice to declare himself a slave - in this case, his master had to pay only a fine. But Aesop chose to remain free and accept the execution. According to legend, he was thrown off a cliff at Delphi.

Thus, thanks to his ironic, but allegorical style, Aesop became the ancestor of such a literary genre as the fable. In subsequent eras of dictatorships and infringement of freedom of expression, the fable genre was very popular, and its creator remained a real hero in the memory of generations. It can be said that the Aesopian language has outlived its creator by a long way. So, in the Vatican Museum there is an antique bowl with a picture of a hunchback (according to legend, Aesop had an ugly appearance and was a hunchback) and a fox that tells something - art historians believe that the ancestor of the fable is depicted on the bowl. Historians claim that in the sculptural row of the "Seven Wise Men" in Athens there was once a statue of Aesop the chisel of Lysippus. At the same time, a collection of the writer's fables appeared, compiled by an anonymous author.

In the Middle Ages, the Aesopian language was extremely popular: the famous “Tale of the Fox” was composed in just such an allegorical style, and in the images of a fox, a wolf, a rooster, a donkey and other animals, the entire ruling elite and clergy of the Roman Church are ridiculed. This manner of speaking vaguely, but aptly and caustically, was used by Lafontaine, Saltykov-Shchedrin, the famous composer of fables Krylov, the Ukrainian fabulist Glibov. Aesop's parables were translated into many languages, they were composed in rhyme. Many of us from school probably know the fable about the crow and the fox, the fox and the grapes - the plots of these short moralizing stories were invented by an ancient sage.

It cannot be said that the Aesopian language, the meaning of which during the times of regimes where censorship ruled the ball, is irrelevant today. The allegorical style, which does not directly name the target of satire, seems to be addressed by its “letter” to a tough censor, and by its “spirit” - to the reader. Since the latter lives in realities that are subject to veiled criticism, he easily recognizes it. And even more: a dodgy manner of ridicule, full of secret hints that require a guess, hidden symbols and images is much more interesting to readers than a direct and undisguised accusation of the authorities of any offenses, therefore even those writers and journalists who have nothing afraid. We see its use in journalism, and in journalism, and in pamphlets on current political and social topics.

Explain the meaning of phraseological units. Aesopian tongue, tongue untied, tongue swallowed, bite tongue, find common ground, holding

Svetlana

Aesopian language - speak allegorically, express your thoughts in parables, fables (Aesop was a slave and could not speak openly)
The tongue is untied, usually in drunkards it unties, that is, what the sober thought about, he told, being drunk. Tongue progloil-shut up stopped talking. Or they say something like that about deliciously cooked food, for example, you can swallow your tongue, bite your tongue. Find mutual language- people met and found a common topic for conversation, they are pleased to communicate with each other. Keep your mouth shut - don't talk too much. Scratch tongues - gossip or talk just like that, about nothing

ingrid

Aesopian language - hints when it is impossible to speak in plain text, so that only those who need it guess, and the rest do not understand.
Tongue untied - to engage in chatter, to speak incessantly.
Tongue swallowed - be silent.
Bite your tongue - shut up suddenly, in mid-sentence
Find a common language - find a common topic in a conversation

Explain the meaning of phraseological units: thirty pieces of silver, terra incognita, Aesopian language, cross the Rubicon, burn the mos

Vladimir

Well, not all. Only some thirty pieces of silver are the price of betrayal: it was this amount that the Jewish high priests gave to Judas so that he would betray Christ to them.
Terra incognita - land unknown
Aesop's language is an allegory: Aesop is an ancient Greek fabulist, and a fable, using all sorts of examples, speaks allegorically about something.
Cross the Rubicon (in general, the same as burning bridges) - take a decisive step, after which there is no turning back: the Rubicon is the border river between the Roman Empire and the German lands, which Julius Caesar crossed, capturing the Germans.

terra incognita - unknown, unexplored things, something unknown, an undeveloped area of ​​\u200b\u200bknowledge.
Cross the Rubicon - to commit an act that can no longer be undone, to make a dangerous and irrevocable decision.
AESOP LANGUAGE - named after the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop - disguised style literary work in which, behind the direct meaning of what was said, there is a second plan of understanding that reveals the true thoughts and intentions of the author.
burn ships, bridges - cut off any possibility of retreat.

Eorlenko

Thirty pieces of silver are very small coins for which Judas betrayed Jesus. This term comes from the Gospel. "Aesopian language" - means allegoricalness, zashivrovannost statements, the language of fables. Aesop is an ancient Greek poet and fabulist. "Burn bridges behind you" - make final and irrevocable decisions, not giving yourself the opportunity to return to the past.

Daria shadrina

1, "Crossing the Rubicon" now means: to commit an act that can no longer be undone, to make a dangerous and irreversible decision. “The die is cast” is said in the meaning: “the fluctuations are over, I began to act, and it’s too late to change anything”
2, About pieces of silver: The most despicable traitor in history is the legendary Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples of Christ. He betrayed his teacher for thirty pieces of silver, that is, for thirty pieces of silver. That is why the expression "thirty pieces of silver" has long been understood as "the price of betrayal", "the price of blood". The legend also gave us many allegorical words and expressions. The name "Judas" is synonymous with the word "traitor". The combination of the words "Kiss of Judas" expresses the concept of insidious, hypocritical flattery, of treacherous affection.
3, "terra incognita" began to be used in a figurative sense: unknown, unexplored things, something unknown, an unexplored field of knowledge due to the fact that one ancient astronomer spoke like this when he discovered new parts of the world. Terra incognito literally means "unknown land".
4, Aesop was a slave. He could not frankly condemn human vices, so he turned to fables, in which he expressed his thoughts not directly, but with the help of intricate allegories. This is not a direct, mysterious language, the ability to speak in blunt terms, in parables, and was called the Aesopian language.

Thirty-three pieces of silver - the price of the sale of I. Kh., or the price of betrayal. Terra Incognita - a common noun in relation to the unknown, translated as "Unknown Land". Aesopian language - the language of allegory, by analogy, for example - animals. To cross the Rubicon - in a figurative sense, a certain line that separates two different opposites. Burning bridges is a concept that defines a fundamental revision of one's views in the past.

What does Aesopian language mean

Jaann fogel

Aesop's language (named after the fabulist Aesop) is a secret writing in literature, an allegory that deliberately masks the thought (idea) of the author. He resorts to the system of "deceptive means": traditional allegorical devices (allegory, irony, paraphrase, allusion), fable "characters", translucent contextual pseudonyms. The slave Aesop could not directly point out the vices of the masters in his fables, so he replaced their images with animals with the corresponding characteristics. Since then, the language of allegories has been called Aesop's.

~ Foxy ~ green eyes ~

AESOP LANGUAGE literally: the compositional device of the ancient fabulous writer Aesop (VI century BC), who hid the characters and relationships of people under the names of animals. Since Aesop (his surviving records are corrupted) reluctantly resorted to the so-called. morality, revealing the "secret" of the fable, he, perhaps, can be considered the initiator of that special secret writing, which the word had to resort to later for self-defense.
Aesop, according to legend, was a slave, and since then, as if in fulfillment of an ancient tradition, only literature “devoid of rights”, slave literature, has always resorted to the help of the “Aesopian language”.

How did free-thinking writers hide impenetrable meanings from censors? A retelling of the main provisions of the classic, but not well read book by Lev Losev

Prepared by Maria Kanatova

Portrait of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Autolithograph by Evgeny Sidorkin. 1977 RIA News"

Aesopian language is a literary system that helps the author convey specific information to the reader while hiding it from the censor. With the help of various artistic means the author creates "shields" that mask uncensored information. And special markers tell the reader about the possibility of an allegorical reading:

Composed by you, Samozvanov,
Romanov is a whole family;
But I say, the truth is not melting:
I don't like your romance family.

The address epigram of Vladimir Likhachev, published in 1905 in the magazine Spectator, seems to be addressed to a bad writer. But the reader of that time sees where the comma is missing in the last verse: “I don’t love your family, Romanov,” and the poem turns into an anti-government epigram. Aesop's statement is thus built here on a homonymous pun.

Aesopian language is the direct offspring of the censorship that has been operating in Russia since the era of Peter I, when Russian literature was just beginning. Censorship brought up in the writer a virtuoso guesser, and in the reader - an unsurpassed riddle solver. Critics of the 19th century despised the Aesopian language for its slave cryptography, opposing it with bold, direct satire. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the author of the term "Aesopian language", wrote about it as a "servile manner", which consists in the fact that the writer, no less than the work, is concerned about ways to get it into print.

Attitudes towards the Aesopian language change towards the end of the century. Its paradox is that strict censorship whips up the creative thought of the author, forcing him to go to various artistic tricks to express what cannot be said directly: in the language of analogies, the danger posed by wolves keeps deer in good shape. The works of the same Saltykov-Shchedrin, who widely used Aesopian language, have lost their topicality, but we still admire their subtle wit.

Aesop's statement exists in two planes - direct and allegorical. The reader may not notice the second plan, but this will not make the work worse, since the first plan itself is full of various artistic meanings. From a practical point of view, the intervention of the censor and the need for Aesopian language are an unnecessary hindrance to the transmission of the message from the author to the reader. But in this hindrance, noise, the meaning of the whole message can be contained. The main thing for the conspiracy of the encoder and decoder is that the censor does not see a secret message behind this noise.

This happened, for example, with Mikhail Shatrov's play Bolsheviks. She describes the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars in 1918, which discussed the need for a red terror against the opposition. This iconographic genre of docudrama, common in the USSR, is in itself a good shield: such plays were easily missed even by very educated censors. And the viewer who watches it in the 1960s already knows that the terror will last for years and will affect even those who discuss it according to the plot of the play. Behind the façade of the ultimate documentary lies an Aesopian polemic with the Bolshevik idea of ​​power. The play lacks many elements of Leniniana as a genre: a demonstration of Lenin's "kindness", a caricature of "enemies", which signals to the viewer about the Aesopian component, and for the censor it is this very noise, an artistic flaw.

The state can also use the Aesopian language. For example, on November 7, 1975, singer Iosif Kobzon at a festive concert at the party elite sang the song "Migratory birds are flying ...", which had not been performed since the 1940s and 50s and was almost forgotten. The concert was broadcast on television, showing the applause of high-ranking spectators in the hall. Aesop's message was this: a Jew is promised prosperity in the Soviet Union if he is loyal to the state. Millions of viewers instantly understood this and the message was easily deciphered. Kobzon personified the Jews, the words of the song - loyalty, the applause of the party elite promised prosperity. The whole situation served as a shield, a marker - a song that had not been performed for a long time, and a Jewish performer. This Aesopian method of notification was very convenient for the state: if it then decided to change the terms of the tacit agreement with the Jews, no one could prove that such a thing existed at all.

Sofia Parnok's 1922 poem "Bellerophon" is one of the earliest examples of Aesopian language in post-October literature. The mythological plot and mythological names - Bellerophon, Chimera - act as shields. At the same time, the word "chimera", which has a second meaning of "utopia", becomes a marker for the reader. And then the last two stanzas of the poem are read differently: now they are about the Soviet regime that represses the poet.

Bellerophon to Chimaera
Downpour of arrows...
Who can believe, believe
What marks was the sight!

And I'm without tears, stubbornly
I look at my life
And the ancient one, the very one,
I recognize claws

For example, a translation can serve as a shield for an Aesopian statement. So, in his translation of Macbeth, Pasternak tried to express how he lived and what he felt during the years of Stalinist terror, slightly shifting Shakespearean accents:

They are used to tears, they are not noticed.
To the flash of frequent horrors and storms
They are treated like normal events.
All day they call for someone, but no one
Doesn't care who is being buried.

(Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
Are made, not marked'd; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy; the dead man's knell
Is there scarce ask'd for who...)

Often the authors transfer the action to another era or country, meaning modernity and compatriots. So, Bella Akhmadulina in the poem "St. Bartholomew's Night" seems to be writing about the sad events of French history, but the attentive reader will understand that we are actually talking about the USSR. Stylistic hints (typically Russian colloquial expressions: “what nonsense!”) become markers here.

Aesop's message may be hidden in a children's work: adult readers saw in Georgy Ladonshchikov's poem "The Starling in a Foreign Land" ("The starling flew away from the cold ...") a hint of the emigration of writers; in the lines about how the starling yearns for "the cat that hunted him" - a mockery of the widespread intellectual opinion that emigration is still a mistake. In the story "Nedopesok" by Yuri Koval, the world of arctic foxes living in captivity is carefully spelled out and there is only one word, clinging to which the reader begins to see analogies with Soviet Union. This is the word "feeding trough", which in Soviet slang meant "a place of work where you can profit from something with impunity."

Aesop's message may concern a specific person. During the persecution of Solzhenitsyn in the "New World", a poem by Yevgeny Markin "White buoy" was published. It is about a buoy keeper, and only one word hints at the story with Solzhenitsyn - the middle name of the buoy keeper is Isaich. The poem begins to be read in an allegorical vein: "... how absurd this strap is, / how clear his eyes are." The attentive and knowledgeable reader receives the message: Solzhenitsyn - good man.

In principle, the reader who is able to unravel the Aesopian message knows even without him that Solzhenitsyn is a good man, and Stalin is a villain. Aesopian language most often opposes the most sacred taboos, such as pro-state myths. And the publication of each Aesopian text was a celebration for the intelligentsia: it was perceived as a breach in the totalitarian system, a victory for the joint efforts of the author and the reader.

We have repeatedly heard the expression "Aesopian language." What does this term mean and where does it come from? It is not known for certain whether such a person lived, or is this a collective image. There are many legends about him, and in the Middle Ages his biography was compiled. According to legend, he was born in the VI century BC. e. in and was a slave of Croesus, however, a dodgy mind, ingenuity and cunning helped him gain freedom and glorified him for many generations.

Naturally, it was the founding father of this technique who first applied the Aesopian language. Examples of it are given to us by a legend that tells that Croesus, having drunk too much, began to assure that he could drink the sea, and made a bet, putting his entire kingdom at stake. The next morning, having sobered up, the king turned to his slave for help, and promised to grant him freedom if he would help him out. The wise servant advised him to say: “I promised to drink only the sea, without the rivers and streams that flow into it. Shut them down and I will keep my promise." And since no one could fulfill this condition, Croesus won the bet.

Being a slave, and then a freedman, the sage wrote fables in which he ridiculed stupidity, greed, lies and other vices of people he knew - mainly his former master and his slave-owning friends. But since he was a bonded man, he clothed his narrative in allegories, paraphrases, resorted to allegories, and brought out his heroes under the names of animals - foxes, wolves, crows, etc. This is the Aesopian language. The characters in the funny stories were easily recognizable, but the "prototypes" could do nothing but rage silently. In the end, ill-wishers planted a vessel stolen from the temple for Aesop, and the priests of Delphi accused him of theft and sacrilege. The sage was given the choice to declare himself a slave - in this case, his master had to pay only a fine. But Aesop chose to remain free and accept the execution. According to legend, he was thrown off a cliff at Delphi.

Thus, thanks to his ironic, but allegorical style, Aesop became the ancestor of such a fable. In subsequent eras of dictatorships and infringement of freedom of expression, the fable genre was very popular, and its creator remained a real hero in the memory of generations. It can be said that the Aesopian language has outlived its creator by a long way. So, an antique bowl with a picture of a hunchback is kept in it (according to legend, Aesop had an ugly appearance and was a hunchback) and a fox that tells something - art historians believe that the ancestor of the fable is depicted on the bowl. Historians claim that in the sculptural row of the "Seven Wise Men" in Athens there was once a statue of Aesop the chisel of Lysippus. At the same time, a collection of the writer's fables appeared, compiled by an anonymous author.

In the Aesops, the language was extremely popular: the famous “Tale of the Fox” was composed in just such an allegorical style, and in the images of a fox, a wolf, a rooster, a donkey and other animals, the entire ruling elite and clergy of the Roman Church are ridiculed. This manner of speaking vaguely, but aptly and caustically, was used by Lafontaine, Saltykov-Shchedrin, the famous composer of fables Krylov, the Ukrainian fabulist Glibov. Aesop's parables were translated into many languages, they were composed in rhyme. Many of us from school probably know the fable about the crow and the fox, the fox and the grapes - the plots of these short moralizing stories were invented by an ancient sage.

It cannot be said that the Aesopian language, the meaning of which during the times of regimes where censorship ruled the ball, is irrelevant today. The allegorical style, which does not directly name the target of satire, seems to be addressed with its “letter” to a tough censor, and with its “spirit” - to the reader. Since the latter lives in realities that are subject to veiled criticism, he easily recognizes it. And even more: a dodgy manner of ridicule, full of secret hints that require a guess, hidden symbols and images is much more interesting to readers than a direct and undisguised accusation of the authorities of any offenses, therefore even those writers and journalists who have nothing afraid. We see its use in journalism, and in journalism, and in pamphlets on current political and social topics.

Aesopian language

AESOP LANGUAGE (named after the fabulist Aesop) cryptography in literature, an allegory that deliberately masks the thought (idea) of the author. He resorts to a system of "deceptive means": traditional allegorical devices (allegory, irony, paraphrase, allusion), fable "characters", translucent contextual pseudonyms (fairy tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin).

Aesopian language

(named after the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop), a special type of secret writing, censored allegory, which was used by fiction, criticism and journalism, deprived of freedom of expression under conditions of censorship (see Censorship). As a reaction to the prohibition to touch certain ideas, topics, events, names of E. I. worked out, for example, in the Russian press of the late 18th and early 20th centuries, a system of "fraudulent means," methods of ciphering (and deciphering) free thought. A specific role was played in it by fable images, allegorical “fairytale descriptions” (especially by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, who introduced the expression “E. Ya.”) into wide use, translucent periphrases and pseudonyms, (pamphlet by A.V. Amfiteatrov's "Lord Obmanov" about the royal family), hidden allusions and more direct hints, irony ("full of tact", it was invulnerable to censorship), etc. The denunciations of domestic reality were veiled by “foreign” themes, the everyday phrase became a mockery (“What do you want?” - about the newspaper Novoye Vremya by A. S. Suvorin). The reader knew that a “great work” is a revolution, a “realist” is K. Marx, and “disappeared from anthologies” is V. G. Belinsky or N. G. Chernyshevsky. In this sense, E. I. was publicly available and served as a means not only of political struggle, but also of the realistic art of the word. Master E. I. in France was A. Rochefort. Over time, the style of satire subjugated the techniques characteristic of E. Ya., and now the writer resorts to them regardless of any pressure from censorship. Separately and collectively interacting with other ways of aesthetic word usage, they became features of specific individual styles (for example, "Penguin Island" by A. France, produced by M. A. Bulgakov, "War with Salamanders" by K. Chapek, various genres of science fiction and humorous literature).

Lit .: Chukovsky K., Nekrasov's Mastery, 4th ed., M., 1962; Bushmin A. S., Satire of Saltykov-Shchedrin, M.≈L., 1959, ch. 6; Efimov A. I., The language of satire by Saltykov-Shchedrin, M., 1953, ch. eight; Paklina L. Ya., The art of allegorical speech. Aesopian word in fiction and journalism, Saratov, 1971.

V. P. Grigoriev.

Wikipedia

Aesopian language

Aesopian language(named after the fabulist Aesop) - cryptography in literature, allegory, deliberately masking the thought (idea) of the author. He resorts to a system of "deceptive means": traditional allegorical devices (allegory, irony, paraphrase, allusion), fable "characters", translucent contextual pseudonyms. The slave Aesop could not directly point out the vices of the masters in his fables, so he replaced their images with animals with the corresponding characteristics. Since then, the language of allegories has been called Aesop's.

In Russian literature, the tradition of using this technique has been formed since the end of the 18th century to circumvent censorship. This technique was widely used by the satirist Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Subsequently, Aesopian language in satire became part of the individual style of many writers and was also used outside of censorship pressure.

The use of the Aesopian language was investigated by the literary critic Lev Losev. He defined the Aesopian language as a literary system of interaction between the author and the reader, in which the meaning remains hidden from the censor.