Charles Perrault, a French author born in 1628, invented the fairy tale genre by turning peasant folklore into witty tales with morals. His famous works include ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Puss in Boots’, and ‘Cinderella’. Perrault’s book, ‘Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of the Mother Goose’, has had a significant impact on literature since its debut, inspiring other works and adaptations. Perrault died in Paris in 1703.
Charles Perrault was a late 17th-century French author who is credited with inventing the fairy tale as a literary genre. The fairy tales he wrote were rooted in peasant folklore, but turned into witty tales with morals told in the fashionable salons of the time. Some of Perrault’s most famous fairy tales include ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Puss in Boots’ and ‘Cinderella’. His work paved the way for later authors and folklorists such as the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson and Italo Calvino.
Charles Perrault was born in Paris on January 12, 1628. Although he was not of the nobility, his family was wealthy and able to send him to the best schools in Paris. Perrault studied law and eventually began working in government. He helped found the Academy of Sciences and restore the Academy of Painting, and also acted as first secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres.
Perrault’s entry into the literary world were two treatises on the eminence of the literature of his era over that of the ancient world. He was the leading voice alongside the “moderns” in the dispute between ancients and moderns that pervaded the intellectual circles of the late seventeenth century. Soon Perrault would begin producing his own literature.
The tragedy was the catalyst for Perrault’s storybook, first published in 1697 as Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of the Mother Goose. When he was 67, Perrault lost his job and his wife. He wrote his storybook with his children in mind, but he soon became a celebrity in France and beyond. Perrault did not live long to enjoy this success, as he died in Paris in 1703.
Although Perrault’s book only contained eight fairy tales, it has had an immense impact on literature since its debut. The Brothers Grimm wrote their own versions of some of Perrault’s stories, and many of them have served as inspiration for other works of literature or have been adapted multiple times for stage and film. The Disney films Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are some of the most memorable of these adaptations.
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