Aesopian language

Aesopian language is a special system of indirect expression developed for concealing the true content from censorship, when the direct utterance of a thought is impossible because of political or social prohibitions. Named after the legendary ancient Greek fabulist Aesop, Aesopian language makes use of allegory, hint, irony, allusion, invented plots and "safe" images behind which a sharp critical meaning shows through, comprehensible to the initiated reader. This system flourished in censored literatures, in particular in Ukrainian under imperial and totalitarian oppression, where writers masked national and social ideas in fable, historical or allegorical images. Aesopian language is an important phenomenon of the history of literature, attesting to the capacity of the artistic word to resist prohibition through refined indirect expression.