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The Fairies by Charles Perrault: sources, historical evolution, and signification

The Fairies by Charles Perrault: sources, historical evolution, and signification. Outline. Introduction Part I. Charles Perrault Part II. The Fairies-Origins and sources Part III. Plot and signification Conclusion References. Introduction.

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The Fairies by Charles Perrault: sources, historical evolution, and signification

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  1. The Fairies by Charles Perrault: sources, historical evolution, and signification Dr. MONTONERI

  2. Outline • Introduction • Part I. Charles Perrault • Part II. The Fairies-Origins and sources • Part III. Plot and signification • Conclusion • References Dr. MONTONERI

  3. Introduction • Charles Perrault's tale Les Fées (The Fairies or Diamonds and Toads) appeared for the first time in 1695 in Tales of Mother Goose. This short prose tale belongs to the "kind and the unkind girls" type (Aarne-Thompson 480). • An early version of Les Fées occurs in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The Fairies was also influenced by at least three Italian tales: Straparola’s Biancabella and the Snake and Basile’s Le Tre Fate (The Three Fairies), and LeDue Pizzette (The Two Cakes). • The Fairies is among the least famous of Perrault’s eleven tales. It has been translated many times, but academic studies on it are scarce. It contains many important themes, such as filial piety and hospitality, courtesy and eloquence, and is worth commenting and analyzing. Dr. MONTONERI

  4. Little RedDrawing by陳柔瑩小姐

  5. Part I.Charles Perrault • a. Worshipers of the Sun • b. From Polytheism to Monotheism

  6. a. Perrault’s life • Charles Perrault was born in 1628. He was the seventh child of Pierre Perrault, a member of the Paris Parliament. He studied law and chose a career in government service. • One year later, he married Marie Guichon, but she died of childbirth complications in 1678. Perrault raised his three sons and his daughter alone. • After the death of Colbert in 1683, his successor took away Perrault’s pension as a writer. In 1695, Perrault lost his post as secretary. • He spent the rest of his life writing fairy tales and working on his memoirs. He died in 1703. Dr. MONTONERI

  7. Perrault became close to Colbert. When he died in 1683, Perrault was dismissed from government service. He began composing tales in the 1690’s. The stories were recited in literary salons. Perrault notably frequented the salon of Mme d’Aulnoy, writer of The Blue Bird. When she termed her works “contes de fée” (fairy tales), she originated the term that is now used for the genre.

  8. b. His work • He was also made secretary for life of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres (1663). • Wrote only a few poems, such as The Dialogue of Love and Friendship (1657) and The Mirror or the Metamorphosis of Orante (1661), before being elected to the French Academy in 1671. • In 1695, a manuscript of the Contes de ma mère l'Oye is offered to Mademoiselle, the niece of Louis XIV. • It contains Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots, and The Fairies. • In 1697, the publication of Stories or Tales of Times Past was a success. This work subtitled Tales of Mother Goose adds three new prose tales: Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, Riquet with the Tuft, and Little Tom Thumb. Dr. MONTONERI

  9. Little Red was told by French peasants in the 14th century. For example in La finta nonna (The False Grandmother), an early Italian version, the young girl uses her own cunning to beat the wolf in the end Dr. MONTONERI

  10. Part II. The FairiesOrigins and sources Dr. MONTONERI

  11. Foreign sources • An early version of Les Fées occurs in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Ovid (43 BC-17 AD) completed his epic poem Metamorphoses in AD 8, before being banished by Augustus for political reasons. • In the story of Latona and the Lycians (Book VI: 313-381), Leto (or Latona) was wandering the earth after giving birth to Apollo and Artemis. • She attempted to drink water from a pond in Lycia, but the peasants refused to allow her to do so. They were turned into frogs for their inhospitality. Perrault was familiar with the famous Bassin de Latone, designed by André Le Nôtre in 1668, in the garden terrace of Versailles. • The story of Leto was chosen as an allegory, a clear allusion to the revolts of the Fronde (1648–1653) during Louis XIV’s minority (Berger, 1992). Dr. MONTONERI

  12. Foreign sources • The Fairies resembles at least three Italian tales: Straparola (1480-1557)Biancabella and the Snake and Basile (1575–1632)The Three Fairies and The Two Cakes. • Straparola’s Biancabella and the Snake belongs to the type "The Maiden who laughs roses and weeps pearls“. • In this tale, a girl called Biancabella ("beautiful blond girl" in Italian) is protected by a snake. She receives three gifts: she can weep pearls and silver, laugh pomegranate seeds, and wash her hands to get fish. • The Two Cakes belongs to the "Good at heart and ugly as sin" type. • In the end, Marziella marries a king and her mother Luceta is honored. Puccia is banished and becomes a beggar; her mother Troccola is thrown into the flames. Dr. MONTONERI

  13. Latone Fountain, Versailles Dr. MONTONERI

  14. French sources • Marie‐Jeanne Lhéritier de Villandon, (1664–1734) was the niece of Charles Perrault. She received an exceptional education and became well-known in literary salons of the 1690s. • Assorted Works (1695), contains L'Adroite Princesse (The Discreet Princess) and Marmoisan ou l’innocente tromperie (Marmoisanor the Innocent Deception). • According to Peter and Iona Opie (Opie 1974), there are more than 1,000 variants of Aarne-Thompson type 480. • The Opies believe that Mlle Lhéritier heard the story of The Fairies from her uncle and adapted it according to her own muse. • However, the example of Marmoisan shows that it is Mlle Lhéritier who suggested tales to Perrault. There was a friendly competition between the writer and his niece. Dr. MONTONERI

  15. Part III. Plot and signification • In the 1695 version, a widower marries a widow for his second wife. In the 1697 version, there is no stepmother and the father is dead: a bad-tempered old widow has two daughters. • The younger daughter is exactly like her father, nice and good-looking, and the elder daughter is disagreeable and proud like her mother. • One day, she gives water to an old woman who begs for a drink. She is a fairy in disguise and she rewards the young girl for her kindness: precious stones and flowers will fall from her mouth whenever she speaks. Dr. MONTONERI

  16. Part III. Plot and signification • When the girl goes home, the mother asks the elder sister to go to the spring too. But she is unable to be polite with the fairy who has taken the appearance of a beautiful lady. • She is punished for her rudeness: a toad or a snake will fall from her mouth whenever she speaks. • Then, the mother drives the younger daughter out of the house. The poor girl goes to the forest and cries until a prince finds her and decides to marry her. • The elder daughter is also forced to leave the house, but nobody wants her and she dies alone in the forest. Dr. MONTONERI

  17. Les fées par Anne Royer (Auteur), D'après Charles Perrault (Auteur), Élodie Coudray (Illustrations) Dr. MONTONERI

  18. Part III. Plot and signification Water • Perrault’s tales, in a very subtle way, often make references to events and people of the seventeenth century. • In the 1690s, water supply was a major concern. Drinking water was a luxury. • Moreover, the weather was everything but friendly: very hot summers, terribly cold winters; droughts ruining the crops, floods, and the plague almost every year. • Pouring rain during the summer of 1693 and freezing temperatures during the winter of 1694 caused the death of 1.4 million people in France, one year before the publication of The Fairies. Dr. MONTONERI

  19. Part III. Plot and signification • Allusion to the Bible: "Rebecca at the Well (Old Testament) and "The Woman at the Well  (New Testament). • In Notre Dame de Paris (1831), Esmeralda pities Quasimodo and offers him water. In doing so, she, who will be charged with witchcraft, is the only true Christian. • In Les Misérables (1862), Cosette, who is badly treated by her adoptive parents, the Thénardiers, goes to the river to draw water, just like the younger sister in The Fairies. In Hugo’s novel, Cosette is saved by her own fairy…Jean Valjean. Dr. MONTONERI

  20. Conclusion • When Louis XIV died in 1715, the literary fairy tales were already out of fashion. • Fairy tales continued to enjoy some popular success, but the writers of the 18th century, especially the philosophers, did not particularly like fairy tales, notably because they seemed to reinforce royal absolutism. • Perrault’s Contes were à la mode again at the beginning of the 19th century. The Grimms made his fairy tales famous again by including them in their compendium, Kinder und Hausmaerchen, published in 1812. • Thanks to the two brothers, "between 1842 and 1913, there were not less than 233 editions of his fairy tales. Dr. MONTONERI

  21. References Books : • Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (New York: Knopf, 1976). • Fumaroli, Marc, "Les Enchantements de l’éloquence: Les fées de Charles Perrault ou de la littérature", in Le Statut de la littérature: mélanges offerts à Paul Bénichou (Geneva: Droz, 1980), 153-186. • Lydie, Jean, "Charles Perrault’s Paradox: How Aristocratic Fairy Tales Became Synonymous with Folklore Conservation" (TRAMES, 11, 3, 2007), 276-283. • Zipes, Jack, Beauty and the Beast: And Other Classic French Fairy Tales (New York: Signet Classic, 1997). • Montoneri, Bernard 《法國童話文學論述十七世紀夏爾‧佩羅童話故事》，西元2009年出版，台中市文化局。台中市籍作家作品集第12輯得獎作品-文學暨兒童文學評論。 Dr. MONTONERI

  22. References Online: • http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/latone/interesting/ • http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/perrault.html • http://www1.pu.edu.tw/~bmon/Ppt/FestivalPerrault.ppt • http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault05.html • http://perraultredux.wordpress.com/les-fees/ • http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/forconte.html • http://www.etsy.com/listing/60901425/the-fairies-beautiful-prince-on • http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofi01/5801565269/sizes/z/in/photostream/ • http://surlalunefairytales.blogspot.tw/2012/01/france-month-les-fees-par-anne-royer.html Dr. MONTONERI

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