My treasury of fairy tales

Viac o knihe

When Perrault published "Tales and Stories of Times Past with Morals. The Tales of Mother Goose," he achieved unexpected and overwhelming success, effectively beginning a new literary genre, that of the fairy tale. Although many of Perrault's stories are transcriptions of traditional folk tales (for example, adapted from the versions of Giambattista Basile), the French writer did not merely aim to "reproduce" these stories; he enriched the traditional framework with his own creative insights. Thus, we find in his fairy tales places in France from his time, such as the Château d'Ussé, which is said to be represented in Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots, or references to 17th-century French fashion. Some of his original ideas are perceived in modern popular culture as essential parts of the respective fairy tales; for instance, the glass slippers that appear in Perrault's Cinderella.