Storyteller Study: Charles Perrault

     Charles Perrault is another famed fairytale storyteller whose contribution helped define the world of fairytales for generations to come. Born in 1628 to a wealthy family in Paris, Perrault was a good student starting from childhood, and eventually grew up to study law. Perrault had a long career in French governmental works, including a stint as the secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, serving under the finance minister to King Louis XIV.
     Most reports claim that this government work relating to the arts is exactly what got Perrault to start writing and publishing fairy tales in the first place. A longtime family friend of the Perraults, Phillipe Quinalt, was becoming the go-to librettist for a new genre of music throughout France called opera. Quinalt helped write the opera Alceste, which shared a name with the famous Greek tragedy by Euripides. French traditionalists heavily criticized the work for going against classical French theater. Perrault wrote an essay titled Critique de l'Opera in 1674 not only defending and praising the work, but claiming that Quinalt's work with opera was better than Euripides' tragedy. Perrault's main claim was that traditional work was not so perfect as to exempt itself from critical analysis. This critique began what is known as the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, in which French scholars found themselves at odds trying determine if traditional work was better or if modern work was better. Perrault wrote two more essays in the late 17th century arguing that modern contributions to the arts were superior to the works published in previous centuries.
   It was during this time that Perrault decided to leave his government work and dedicate his life to his children. In 1697, he published a collection of fairytales titled Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose. Any modern reader is immediately familiar with the character of Mother Goose, and Perrault is the first author to use the character in publication. Stories in the collection include works that share similar themes and details to previously published stories, like Sleeping Beauty, as well as stories that have no previous publication history, like Little Red Riding Hood, which is widely thought to be a Perrault original. (Britannica 2016.)
   Perrault died in Paris in the early 18th century at the age of 75. His legacy has thrived in the 300 years since his death, and any history of fairytales is not complete without his inclusion. Modern readers can find his work in the Project Gutenberg e-book, which has translations of Perrault's most famous fairytales.