Yvonne Gallagher Jan 28, 2016:

@ Charles

Like Howard I do not want to get into an argument (or a long discussion) over interpretations of this word. However, I have seen it used often enough before in this kind of sense as a tale/story (which may or may not have something "fabulous"=fabled, amazing or incredible about it OR is a story to excite wonder). Anyway, it was the first thing that sprang to my mind in the context!
In any case, "story" will work fine for Ivan. I'd add "incredible" or "amazing" if they fit.

Charles Davis Jan 28, 2016:

@Ivan It seems that the word is being used very loosely. It is quite possible that they wanted a word meaning "story" and chose "fable" just for the sound of the word, because of the alliteration with "facade", without worrying about what it really means. But although its use here doesn't fit most of the usual meanings of the word, particularly the idea of falsehood, perhaps it is supposed to suggest a story with a sort of "mythic" status. As I said earlier, "fabled" can mean famous.

However, it sounds as though you should simply understand it as "story" in this context and not look any further.

Ivan Niu (asker) Jan 28, 2016:

But the story is a true story... that's partly why I feel a bit confused.

Ivan Niu (asker) Jan 28, 2016:

context after this sentence, it talks about how the architects built this building. It is a story.

Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:

No, let's not get into an argument. Obviously it depends partly which dictionary you use — indeed, which Oxford dictionary, since you will have seen my earlier quotation from Oxford online in which definition 1 is a short story typically with animals. It is just the same in the new Oxford Dictionary of English (1998). And you'll also have seen my quotations from dictionaries of literary terms, which are unanimous on this point. But to be clear, I was not suggesting that the word "fable" is used in no other sense; I was simply saying that its literary definition is as I've said. That's what I meant by "strictly": I meant its primary definition, the first definition in most reliable reference works.

I'm not challenging what you said. You contradicted my statement, but it was correct, so I'm defending it, that's all.

Howard Sugar Jan 27, 2016:

I was working before so I didn't reply and I don't really wish to get into an argument but I do have a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language and under fable there are 5 definitions . Def. 1 a narrative or statement not founded on fact, a myth or legend.Def 2 a short story devised to convey some useful lesson Def.3 The plot or story of a play or poem Def 4 Talk: discourse, narrative Def. 5 the subject of common talk, a byword (none of these involves animals!)

Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:

Not just current meaning, actually. In the mid-eighteenth century Dr Johnson expressed the primary meaning of "fable" as "a feigned story intended to enforce some moral precept."

Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:

@Howard You are confusing etymology with current meaning. As a literary term, "fable" is a moral tale that usually has animals as characters. It is also applied more loosely to supernatural stories in general, but that is the primary and (as I said) the strict meaning.

"1. A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral."
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_eng...

"A short narrative in prose or verse which points a moral. Non-human creatures or inanimate things are normally the characters."
J. A. Cuddon, A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781444...

"fable A brief tale in verse or prose that conveys a moral lesson, usually by giving human speech and manners to animals and inanimate things"
Chris Baldick, The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
https://books.google.es/books?id=mp0s9GgrafUC&pg=PA123

I could go on.

Howard Sugar Jan 27, 2016:

Fable is not strictly an animal allegory. It comes from Latin fabula conversation, tale, play (to cry wolf is lupus in fabula in modern Italian!), the word "fib" also comes from the same root.

Charles Davis Jan 27, 2016:

I too would like to know more about the context, if possible. Two different interpretations of "fable" here occur to me:

1) It could refer to the imaginative experience of visiting the museum, or
2) It could refer to some aspect of the history of the museum itself.

"Fable" is strictly an animal allegory (Aesop, La Fontaine, etc.), but by extension its an archetypal story with folk connections. But it also conveys the idea of something famous: fabled means famous.

Lara Barnett Jan 27, 2016:

@ Ivan Could you post the text which follows please?

Howard Sugar Jan 27, 2016:

Usually fable means a supernatural story incorporating elements of myth and legend. The line before states "the interior, meanwhile tells a story" so probably they are playing on the expression of telling a a fable.