What is Hippolyte Taine’s study La Fontaine et ses fables about?

La Fontaine et ses fables (1853; revised 1861) is a study by the French critic and historian Hippolyte Taine. It served as one of his two doctoral dissertations in literature and represents an early example of his intellectual development as a thinker.1

The work reflects Taine’s lifelong commitment to applying scientific methods to the humanities. In his broader career, Taine argued that cultural artifacts could be explained by analyzing the author's psychology in relation to three conditioning factors: la race (inherited personality), le milieu (social, political, and geographical background), and le moment (the historical situation). While his later works, such as his History of English Literature, explicitly formalized this approach, his study of Jean de La Fontaine was a foundational step in his transition away from the prevailing philosophical doctrine of eclecticism toward the positivist theories that would define his later reputation.1