FABULAS OF TOMAS DE IRIARTE. In spite of the pronounced fondness of the Spaniards for the moralizing and the aphoristic in both spoken and written expression, the fable as a distinct genre did not come to its own in the Spanish language until the 18th century. In translations of both Oriental and Occidental material and sporadically in this or that literary work, in which it is used for literary purposes, the apologue material appears now and then from the Old Spanish period down; but as a form displaying any originality of treatment it first becomes important with the composition of the verse fables of Tomas de Iriarte (1750-91) and of Felix Maria Samaniego (1745-1801). While Samaniego draws in no slight degree upon the 2Esopic stock and does not hesitate to utilize also the Latin Phadrus, the Frenchman La Fontaine, and the Englishman Gay, Iriarte shows far more independence of conception, and be sides, as the very title of his work, 'Fibulas liter arias) (1782), suggests he has not Samaniego's purpose of edifying the world at large but rather the restricted circle of men of letters.
Literary criticism is, then, the compelling mo tive of the lessons that he frames and seeks to inculcate. He has the set aim of correcting, through the ridicule which he directs upon them, the various defects from which Spanish literature is suffering. To do this he has no need of giving free rein to his imagination; on the contrary, he has only to give evidence of a sound literary judgment expressed in an easy and correct style and seasoned with a delicate humor. All these qualities are well exhibited in his fables, which, moreover, present a versi fication of a nature ever varied and ever har monious. Iriarte's abiding fame is associated with the 'Fibulas literarias,) but it is worthy of record that he was a skilful writer of com edies, in several of which he satirized features of the social life of his time.
J. D. M. Pm.