About
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) was a French man of letters and member of the Académie française. He is best known for laying the foundations of the literary fairy tale genre with his collection Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697), which includes tales that became universal, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Puss in Boots. Born into a bourgeois family, he studied law before entering the service of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. A central figure in the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, he argued for the superiority of modern authors over those of antiquity. His tales, adapted from oral traditions, profoundly influenced later writers such as the Brothers Grimm.
* 1628-01-12 — † 1703-05-16
Major works
- Histoires ou contes du temps passé (1697)fairy tale collection
- Le Siècle de Louis le Grand (1687)poem
- Les Hommes illustres qui ont paru en France pendant ce siècle (1696-1701)collection of portraits
Key milestones
- 1671Elected to the Académie française.
- 1687Publication of his poem Le Siècle de Louis le Grand, which sparked the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.
- 1697Publication of Histoires ou contes du temps passé, a foundational collection of the literary fairy tale.
Themes
The marvelousMoralityModernity vs. AntiquityChildhoodOral tradition
Sources: britannica.com · themorgan.org · loc.gov