This study significantly broadens and deepens the investigation of paratranslation in illustrated literature, foregrounding the complex and multifaceted ways in which visual storytelling intersects, converges, and sometimes diverges from textual translation to generate intricate, layered, and dynamically evolving networks of meaning. This study aims to determine the complex interplay between textual and visual elements in illustrated literature, focusing on the role of paratranslation and metaphor in shaping meaning across linguistic, cultural, and historical contexts. Specifically, it seeks to examine how illustrations, peritextual elements, and multimodal strategies in Jean de La Fontaine’s fables contribute to the creation, transformation, and negotiation of narrative meaning, and how these processes facilitate cross-cultural interpretation, reader engagement, and the dynamic evolution of stories over time. Moving beyond traditional translation studies that primarily focus on linguistic equivalence and textual fidelity, this research positions itself at the intersection of translation theory, visual culture studies, and multimodal discourse analysis to examine how meaning-making processes unfold across multiple semiotic registers simultaneously. As a central and paradigmatic case study, this research undertakes a comprehensive multimodal and diachronic analysis of Jean de La Fontaine’s fables and their extensive peritextual ecosystems, focusing particularly on the remarkably diverse visual interpretations, adaptations, and reimaginings provided by illustrators across different historical periods, cultural contexts, and artistic traditions. The study traces how these visual interpretations have evolved, transformed, and responded to changing cultural sensibilities, aesthetic movements, and readership expectations, revealing illustration not as a static or subordinate accompaniment to text but as a dynamic and generative force in the ongoing reconfiguration of narrative meaning.