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    Perrault's Fairy Tales
    Perrault's Fairy Tales
    Perrault's Fairy Tales
    Audiobook2 hours

    Perrault's Fairy Tales

    Written by Charles Perrault

    Narrated by Robin Field

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    Born in 1628, Parisian Charles Perrault was aptly credited as being the “father” of a then-new literary genre: the fairy tale. Often drawing from his own surroundings (the Chateau Usse was the model for Sleeping Beauty, while the Marquis of the Château d'Oiron inspired the delightful Puss-in-Boots), Perrault originally penned the tales as moral stories for his own three children. Often retold, imitated, softened and animated, Perrault's much grittier original fairy tales are certain to awaken the listener to a study of courage, betrayal, redemption and love…in short, all the complexities of the human story.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChristianAudio.com
    Release dateJul 1, 2010
    ISBN9781596442306

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    Reviews for Perrault's Fairy Tales

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Charles Perrault, a minor government official in 17th century France, is best remembered today for the collection of fairy tales he published in 1697, just six years before his death. Perrault, however, was not the author of any of the tales collected in his book. Rather, he rewrote various folk tales, tales of unknown origin snatched from the oral tradition of his time, and published those stories in the versions that most closely resemble the ones children grow up on today.This new Christopher Betts translation of Perrault’s work presents a few of the stories in simple verse, the rest in prose, and it includes an all-star list of fairy tales. Among the stories in “The Complete Fairy Tales” are: “Little Red Riding-Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” “Cinderella,” and a story very similar to that of ”Hansel and Gretel.” But make no mistake about it – these are not the fairy tales you heard from your mother and they are, most definitely, not the ones made famous by Mr. Disney. Nevertheless, Perrault did intend that his stories be read to small children by their parents. For that reason, his versions of the folk tales are shorter than the stories with which adults of the period would have been more familiar, they encompass a limited number of characters and motivations, and much of the most obvious sexual content has been removed or, at the least, disguised. In addition, within his stories, Perrault emphasizes lessons and warnings about the process of growing up and he attaches at least one moral to the end of each tale. The attached morals, however, do seem to be aimed more at the parent/reader than at the listening children.Adult readers will be intrigued by the editing process to which Perrault subjected his chosen tales and probably a little shocked by some of the details he excluded. Perrault clearly felt it necessary to clean up the old folk tales before publishing them as children’s entertainment. Who might have imagined, for instance, that Snow White would be raped by her prince and would give birth to twins before she was awakened? Or that Little Red Riding-Hood would be forced by the wolf to eat part of her dismembered grandmother? Or that incest would play a prominent role in some of the tales?“The Complete Fairy Tales” includes twenty-six remarkable illustrations by 19th century French literary illustrator Gustave Doré (including the book’s cover and the “Cinderella” illustration shown here) and it is amply footnoted. Most intriguing, though, is the book’s presentation of alternate versions of several of today’s most beloved fairy tales, versions that make it obvious why Perrault felt obliged to edit the tales to fit his intended audience. Readers preferring their history in unexpurgated form will much appreciate “The Complete Fairy Tales” as translated by Christopher Betts.Rated at: 5.0
    • 3/5
      Not the most enchanting edition (Clarion, 1993) of these tales I would have thought, but it gets the job done.
    • 5/5
      When I was very young, my grandmother had a set of very small books with uncut pages. One of the books was an early edition of Charles Perrault's fairy tales with hand-printed woodblock prints. Naturally I cut the pages and read the stories which were bloody and didn't always have nice endings and at least one of the ugly sisters tumbled into a well to be devoured by snakes. These stories, before Disney got them, were wonderful. Children like blood and guts as much as they like marshmallows and cuddly bears, but today everything is sanitised for them. I wonder why - the policy has not decreased the amount of violence in the world by one jot.

      My grandmother, not very pleased at my cutting the pages on these valuable books, gave them to me and for years they were stored in my attic. But when I sold my flat in London, they were either thrown out for trash or stolen. Sad.
    • 5/5
      I love the original versions of fairy tales. Knowing the unedited versions makes it so much more interesting when you're reading the re-tellings.

      When I read Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber, I was a bit surprised at the "Little Red Riding Hood" retelling that had erotic overtones. But in Perrault's version, the wolf has the girl undress before asking her to come into bed with him - which is when she flees. Carter's version is less out of the blue when you are aware of Perraut's rendition.
    • 5/5
      I actually read these while I was in France, but I reread a couple of them this week while my online group was discussing them. The online discussion reminded me how dark these stories were, full of violence and terror and unpredictability. The things we face in life, in other words. The things we seek out in books.