The Narrative Text between the Fables of Aesopus and Phaedrus in the Theory of Narrative Purposes Framework

Boris Tomashvesky (1890-1927) was a key pioneer of the Russian formal school and the originator of Narratology. Many literary works credited to him have contributed to the analysis of Russian literature in particular, and world literature in general, whether in poetry or prose. One of his most important narrative literary theories is the theory of narrative purposes, which is used to analyse poems and prose writings from a formal, structural, narrative perspective. It states that any literary work of poetry or prose comprises a central concept with a fundamental goal or purpose. As Tomaszewski emphasised in his work The Theory of Purposes, "There is no work written in a language that has a meaning that does not have a purpose." This results in incomplete concepts with secondary purposes that comprise the narrative parts of the literary text. The researcher will then present an analysis of six Greek prose tales by the writer Aesopus and their corresponding Latin poetic tales by the poet Phaedrus, a narrative analysis that clarifies the sequence of narrative events in the prose and poetic tales in an elaborate literary manner in terms of the types of narrative text and its parts (beginning, middle, and end). This study used both the comparative and formal methods. It aims to clarify the extent of similarity and difference between the narration of Greek prose tales and poetic Latin tales in light of Tomaszewski's theory of narrative purposes, as well as the extent of the skill of Aesopus and Phaedrus in formulating the narrative body of their tales according to Tomaszewski's perspective and vision of the narrative body of the narrative literary text, so that one of the most important principles of formal theory is achieved, which is Literary.