THE FABLE AND ITS EDUCATIONAL TRADITION IN THE WORKS OF BULGARIAN NATIONAL AWAKENING AUTHORS OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Abstract

The report addresses the question of the place and essential role of the fable as one of the most widespread genres in the context of teaching Bulgarian language and literature at the primary level of basic education during the Renaissance, as well as in the present day. Its pronounced didacticism, which fully corresponds to the requirements of Renaissance pedagogy, explains the preferences of textbook compilers and authors of children's literature for this genre. The characters in the fable provide an opportunity to focus moral and aesthetic ideals within them; through the small details, important manifestations of life are revealed. By replacing more abstract and elusive concepts, which are difficult for children to grasp, with concrete imagery, while simultaneously preserving the dual-layered nature of the allegory, the fable manages with simple means to lead to wise reflections of an educational character and to keep the attention and interest of young readers alive. The life-giving tradition of this genre, established by the Renaissance fabulists to familiarize Bulgarian children and youth with moral virtues and the rich folk psychology of the Bulgarians, is constantly enriched and developed in the direction of improving artistic mastery and, consequently, the immediacy of conveying the idea.