Madame d'Aulnoy
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Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy (1650/1651–4 January 1705) was a French writer known for her fairy tales.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Barneville near Bourg-Achard (Eure) as a member of a noble family (she was the niece of Marie Bruneau des Loges), in 1666 she married a Parisian thirty years older—François de la Motte, Baron d'Aulnoy. The baron was a freethinker and a known gambler. Over the next three years, the couple had three children. In 1669, the Baron d'Aulnoy was accused of treason but the accusations proved to be false and two men implicated in the accusation were executed. Marie-Catherine's mother fled the country as she was also allegedly involved, however it is not known if the Comtesse d'Aulnoy herself had anything to do with the charges. She had three more children and discontinued involvement in the Paris social scene for twenty years. During this period, she later said that she had traveled to Spain and England, the latter voyage cannot be confirmed however. Much of this time was also spent writing stories inspired by these destinations; these stories later became her most popular works.
Madame d'Aulnoy was a permanent resident of Paris again by 1690 where her salon became one of the most popular of the time, featuring frequent visitations by leading aristocrats and princes. Over the next thirteen years she published twelve books including three pseudo-memoirs, two fairy tale collections and three "historical" novels. Gaining the reputation as a historian and recorder of tales from outside of France, and elected as a member of Paduan Accademia dei Ricovvati, she was called by the name of the muse of history, Clio. However, at this time the idea of history was a much looser term which included her fictional accounts. In 150 years, the more strictly documented form of the term lead to her accounts being declared "fraudulent". However, in France and England at the time her works were considered as mere entertainment, a sentiment reflected in the reviews of the period. Her truly accurate attempts at historical accounts telling of the Dutch wars of Louis XIV were less successful.
Her most popular works were her fairy tales and adventure stories as told in Les Contes des Fees (Tales of fairies) and Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fees a la Mode. Unlike the folk tales of Charles Perrault, she told her stories in a more conversational style, as they might be told in salons. These stories were far from suitable for children and many English adaptions are very dissimilar to the original. The majority of her tales feature active female protagonists.
[edit] Works
- Sentiments d'une Ame penitente
- Le Retour d'une Ame a Dieu
- Histoire d'Hippolyte, comte de Duglas (1690)
- Histoire de Jean de Bourbon, Prince de Carency (1692)
- Le Comte de Warwick
- Memoires de la cour d'Espagne, Relation du voyage d'Espagne (1690 or 1691)
- Memoires de la cour d'Angleterre (1695)
- Les Contes des Fees (Tales of fairies)
- La Belle aux cheveux d'or (The Beauty with Golden Hair or The Story of Pretty Goldilocks)
- L'Oiseau bleu (The Blue Bird)
- Gracieuse et Percinet (Gracieuse and Percinet)
- La Biche au bois (The Doe in the Woods or The White Doe)
- Babiole
- Finette Cendron (Cunning Cinders)
- Fortunée (The Fortunate One or Felicia and the Pot of Pinks)
- La bonne petite souris (The Good Little Mouse)
- La Princesse Rosette (Princess Rosette)
- L'Oranger et l'Abeille (The Bee and the Orange Tree)
- Le Mouton. (The Ram or The Wonderful Sheep)
- Le Nain jaune. (The Yellow Dwarf)
- Le Prince Lutin (The Imp Prince)
- La Grenouille bienfaisante (The Benevolent Frog or The Frog and the Lion Fairy)
- La Princesse Printaniere (Princess Mayblossom)
- The Dolphin
- Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fees a la Mode (1698)
- La Chatte Blanche (The White Cat)
- Le Rameau d'Or (The Golden Branch)
- Le Pigeon et la Colombe (The Pigeon and the Dove)
- Le Prince Marcassin (Prince Marcassin)
- La Princesse Belle-Étoile (Princess Belle-Etoile)
- Belle-Belle ou Le Chevalier Fortuné
- Serpentin vert (Green Serpent)
[edit] External links and Resources
- SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Fairy Tales of Madame d'Aulnoy (1893) with a guide to d'Aulnoy's tales in English
- Works by Madame d'Aulnoy at Project Gutenberg
- "Les Contes de Fées: The Literary Fairy Tales of France"
[edit] References
- Disse, Dorothy. (October 1, 2004) Marie Catherine d'Aulnoy. Other Women's Voices. Retrieved January 22, 2005.
