Contes, Tome I

Madame d'Aulnoy (Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy)Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 614K words
Chapters: 62

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Contes, Tome I by Madame d'Aulnoy. Author: Aulnoy, Madame d' (Marie-Catherine), 1651?-1705. Language: French. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: May 10, 2006

Editor's review

Contes, Tome I is the first volume of the fairy-tale collection by the French writer Madame d'Aulnoy, in the original French and made available as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Madame d'Aulnoy was a leading figure in late seventeenth-century French salon fairy tales; her stories are known for their elaborate frame narratives, courtly wit, and fantastical imagination, offering an intriguing contrast with the tales of her contemporary Perrault. The book suits readers with some French reading ability who are interested in the origins of European fairy tales: it can serve both as French reading material and as a way to understand the early form of the literary fairy tale in France. The Project Gutenberg edition is the public-domain original text, with no modern notes or introduction, and some seventeenth-century expressions and spellings may pose difficulties. Readers should not treat it as a children's book to skim, but should pay attention to the narrator's tone, the nested structure of the stories, and the courtly wit—these are precisely the hallmarks of Madame d'Aulnoy's work.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with intermediate or better French who want to read the original text
Researchers interested in the history of European fairy tales and French salon literature
Self-learners who need a public-domain French text as language-learning material
Literary readers who enjoy classical fantasy stories and frame narratives

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak French who need bilingual editions or annotations
Young readers looking only for short children's stories
Readers expecting a modern editorial introduction and detailed notes

Reading tips

Start with one or two tales in the volume to get a feel for the narrative style, then decide on the reading order.
Keep a French dictionary at hand and look up seventeenth-century spellings or old expressions as you go.
Compare with Perrault's tales or histories of European fairy tales to understand the features of salon fairy tales.
Note the nesting of stories and the narrator's tone; brief notes can help you keep track of the structure.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for French beginners?

Not really. It is the original late seventeenth-century French text, with old spellings and expressions, and the Project Gutenberg edition has no notes or bilingual text. Readers with intermediate or better French will benefit most.

How do Madame d'Aulnoy's fairy tales differ from Perrault's?

Madame d'Aulnoy was a representative of the French salon fairy tale, and her works often feature courtly wit, elaborate frame narratives, and fantastical imagination; Perrault's tales are more often regarded by later generations as the source of classic fairy tales. The two belong to the same era but differ in style and purpose.

Does this edition contain all the fairy tales?

This volume is titled Contes, Tome I, that is, the first volume of the collection, not the complete works. Readers who want the full work will need to look for later volumes or other editions.

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About the author

Madame d'Aulnoy (Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy) Author · French · 1651–1705

Madame d'Aulnoy (Marie-Catherine, 1651?–1705) was a French woman writer, born Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy. She is known for her 1697 collection of fairy tales, Contes, and is credited with coining the term "fairy tale" (conte de fées); her tales circulated widely in Europe. The library holds volumes one and two of her Contes as well as Princess Belle-Etoile. She also wrote courtly novels and travel accounts set in Spain, such as The Ingenious and Diverting Letters of the Lady —— Travels into Spain and La cour et la ville de Madrid vers la fin du XVIIe siècle, which combine vivid foreign observations with narrative flair. Public information on the details of her life is limited, and existing accounts focus mainly on her literary works and influence.