fabula

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fabula, the term used in Russian Formalism for the ‘raw material’ of story events as opposed to the finished arrangement of the plot (or sjuzet); the distinction reappears in later French narratology as that between histoire (story) and récit (account). In Latin literature, fabula (plural ‐lae) is also the general name for various kinds of play, of which the most significant genres are fabula Atellana or Atellan farce, and fabula palliata or Roman New Comedy.

fābula, besides meaning ‘story’, the general Latin word for ‘play’, frequently combined with an adjective defining the subject. The commonest types were the fabula Atellāna, farce, f. crğpidāta, Roman tragedy on a Greek theme, f. palliāta, adaptation of a Greek comedy, f. praetexta, a serious play on a Roman historical subject, and f. tŏgāta, a Roman comedy with a native theme concerning low life in Rome.