Biography of Charles Perrault
Great merit Perrot in the fact that he chose several stories from the mass of folk tales and fixed their plot, which has not yet become final. He gave them a tone, a climate, a style characteristic of the 17th century, and yet very personal.
Among the storytellers who "legalized" the fairy tale in serious literature, the very first and honorable place is given to French writer Charles Perrault. Few of our contemporaries know that Perrot was a venerable poet of his time, an academician of the French Academy, the author of famous scientific papers. But worldwide fame and the recognition of posterity was brought to him not by his thick, serious books, but beautiful fairy tales"Cinderella", "Puss in Boots", "Bluebeard".
Charles Perrault was born in 1628. The boy's family was concerned about the education of their children, and at the age of eight, Charles was sent to college. As historian Philippe Aries notes, school biography Perrault is a biography of a typical excellent student. During the training, neither he nor his brothers were ever beaten with rods - an exceptional case at that time.
After college, Charles took private law lessons for three years and eventually received a law degree.
At twenty-three, he returns to Paris and begins his career as a lawyer. Literary activity Perrault falls at a time when high society there is a fashion for fairy tales. Reading and listening to fairy tales is becoming one of the common hobbies secular society comparable only to the reading of detective stories by our contemporaries. Some choose to listen philosophical tales, others pay tribute to the old tales, which have come down in the retelling of grandmothers and nannies. Writers, trying to satisfy these requests, write down fairy tales, processing the plots familiar to them from childhood, and the oral fairy tale tradition gradually begins to turn into a written one.
However, Perrault did not dare to publish the tales under his own name, and the book he published contained the name of his eighteen-year-old son, P. Darmancourt. He was afraid that with all the love for "fabulous" entertainment, writing fairy tales would be perceived as a frivolous occupation, casting a shadow on the authority of a serious writer with its frivolity.
Perrault's fairy tales are based on famous folk story, which he presented with his usual talent and humor, omitting some details and adding new ones, "ennobling" the language. Most of all, these fairy tales were suitable for children. And it is Perrault that can be considered the founder of children's world literature and literary pedagogy.
Charles Perrault now we call him a storyteller, but in general during his lifetime (he was born in 1628, died in 1703). Charles Perrault was known as a poet and publicist, dignitary and academician. He was a lawyer, the first clerk of the French Minister of Finance Colbert.
When the Academy of France was created by Colbert in 1666, among its first members was Charles's brother, Claude Perrault, who shortly before this Charles had helped win the competition for the design of the facade of the Louvre. A few years later, Charles Perrault was also admitted to the Academy, and he was assigned to lead the work on the "General Dictionary French".
The history of his life is both personal and public, and politics mixed with literature, and literature, as it were, divided into what glorified Charles Perrault through the ages - fairy tales, and what remained transient. For example, Perrault became the author of the poem "The Age of Louis the Great", in which he glorified his king. Known for his work "Great people of France", voluminous "Memoirs" and many others. In 1695, a collection of poetic tales by Charles Perrault was published.
But the collection "Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings" was released under the name of Charles Perrault's son Pierre de Armancourt - Perrault. It was the son who in 1694, on the advice of his father, began to write folk tales. Pierre Perrault died in 1699. In his memoirs, written a few months before his death (he died in 1703), Charles Perrault does not say anything about who was the author of the tales or, to be more precise, of the literary record.
These memoirs, however, were published only in 1909, and twenty years after the death of literature, academician and storyteller, in the 1724 edition of the book "Tales of Mother Goose" (which, by the way, immediately became a bestseller), authorship was first attributed to one Charles Perrault . In a word, there are many "blank spots" in this biography. The fate of the storyteller himself and his fairy tales, written in collaboration with his son Pierre, for the first time in Russia is described in such detail in the book by Sergei Boyko "Charles Perrault".
As well as beautiful fairy tales, and. For more than three hundred years, all the children of the world love and know these fairy tales.
Tales of Charles Perrault
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Biography of Charles Perrault
Charles Perrault- a famous French storyteller, poet and critic of the era of classicism, a member of the French Academy since 1671, now known mainly as an author " Tales of Mother Goose».
Name Charles Perrault- one of the most popular names of storytellers in Russia, along with the names of Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Hoffmann. Marvelous tales Perrault from the collection of fairy tales by Mother Goose: "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", "Puss in Boots", "Boy with a Thumb", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bluebeard" are famous in Russian music, ballets, films, theatrical performances, in painting and drawing dozens and hundreds of times.
Charles Perrault born January 12, 1628 in Paris, in rich family Judge of the Paris Parliament Pierre Perrault and was the youngest of his seven children (with him was born the twin brother Francois, who died after 6 months). Of his brothers, Claude Perrault was famous architect, the author of the eastern facade of the Louvre (1665-1680).
The boy's family was concerned about the education of their children, and at the age of eight, Charles was sent to Beauvais College. As historian Philippe Aries notes, the school biography of Charles Perrault is the biography of a typical excellent student. During the training, neither he nor his brothers were ever beaten with rods - an exceptional case at that time. Charles Perrault dropped out of college before finishing his studies.
After college Charles Perrault takes private law lessons for three years and eventually earns a law degree. He bought a lawyer's license, but soon left this position and went as a clerk to his brother, the architect Claude Perrault.
Enjoyed the confidence of Jean Colbert, in the 1660s he largely determined the policy of the court Louis XIV in the field of arts. Thanks to Colbert, Charles Perrault in 1663 was appointed secretary of the newly formed Academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres. Perrault was also the general controller of the surintendentship of the royal buildings. After the death of his patron (1683), he fell into disfavor and lost the pension paid to him as a writer, and in 1695 lost his position as secretary.
1653 - first work Charles Perrault- a parody poem "The Wall of Troy, or the Origin of Burlesque" (Les murs de Troue ou l'Origine du burlesque).
1687 - Charles Perrault reads his didactic poem "The Age of Louis the Great" (Le Siecle de Louis le Grand) at the French Academy, which marked the beginning of a long-term "dispute about the ancient and the new", in which Nicolas Boileau becomes Perrault's most violent opponent. Perrault opposes imitation and long-established worship of antiquity, arguing that the contemporaries, the "new", surpassed the "ancients" in literature and in the sciences, and that this is proved literary history France and recent scientific discoveries.
1691 – Charles Perrault for the first time in the genre fairy tales and writes "Griselda" (Griselde). This is a poetic adaptation of Boccaccio's short story, which completes the Decameron (the 10th novella of the 10th day). In it, Perrault does not break with the principle of plausibility, there is no magical fantasy here yet, just as there is no national flavor. folklore tradition. The tale has a salon-aristocratic character.
1694 - the satire "Apology of Women" (Apologie des femmes) and a poetic story in the form of medieval fablios "Amusing Desires". At the same time, the fairy tale "Donkey Skin" (Peau d'ane) was written. It is still written in verse, in the spirit of poetic short stories, but its plot is already taken from a folk tale, which was then widespread in France. Although there is nothing fantastic in the fairy tale, fairies appear in it, which violates the classic principle of plausibility.
1695 - issuing his fairy tales, Charles Perrault in the preface he writes that his tales are higher than the ancient ones, because, unlike the latter, they contain moral instructions.
1696 - The magazine "Gallant Mercury" anonymously published the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", for the first time fully embodying the features of a new type of fairy tale. It is written in prose, accompanied by a verse moralizing. The prose part can be addressed to children, the poetic part - only to adults, and the moral lessons are not devoid of playfulness and irony. In the fairy tale, fantasy turns from a secondary element into a leading one, which is already noted in the title (La Bella au bois dormant, the exact translation is “Beauty in the Sleeping Forest”).
Perrault's literary activity comes at a time when a fashion for fairy tales appears in high society. Reading and listening to fairy tales is becoming one of the common hobbies of secular society, comparable only to the reading of detective stories by our contemporaries. Some prefer to listen to philosophical tales, others pay tribute to the old tales, which have come down in the retelling of grandmothers and nannies. Writers, trying to satisfy these requests, write down fairy tales, processing the plots familiar to them from childhood, and the oral fairy tale tradition gradually begins to turn into a written one.
1697 - a collection of fairy tales " Mother Goose Tales, or Stories and tales of bygone times with moral teachings ”(Contes de ma mere Oye, ou Histores et contesdu temps passe avec des moralites). The collection contained 9 fairy tales, which were literary processing folk tales (believed to have been heard from the nurse of Perrault's son) - except for one ("Riquet-tufted"), composed by Charles Perrault himself. This book widely glorified Perrault beyond literary circle. Actually Charles Perrault introduced folk tale into the system of genres of "high" literature.
However, Perrault did not dare to publish the tales under his own name, and the book he published contained the name of his eighteen-year-old son, P. Darmancourt. He was afraid that with all the love for "fabulous" entertainment, writing fairy tales would be perceived as a frivolous occupation, casting a shadow on the authority of a serious writer with its frivolity.
It turns out that in philological science there is still no exact answer to the elementary question: who wrote famous fairy tales?
The fact is that when the book of fairy tales of Mother Goose was first published, and it happened in Paris on October 28, 1696, a certain Pierre D Armancourt was designated as the author of the book in the dedication.
However, in Paris they quickly learned the truth. Under the magnificent pseudonym D Armancourt, none other than the youngest and beloved son of Charles Perrault, nineteen-year-old Pierre was hiding. For a long time it was believed that the writer father went to this trick only in order to introduce the young man into elite, specifically in the circle of the young Princess of Orleans, niece of King Louis the Sun. After all, this book was dedicated to her. But later it turned out that young Perrault, on the advice of his father, wrote down some folk tales, and there are documentary references to this fact.
In the end, the situation was completely confused by himself Charles Perrault.
Shortly before his death, the writer wrote a memoir, where he described in detail all the more or less important things of his life: serving with Minister Colbert, editing the first General Dictionary of the French Language, poetic odes in honor of the king, translations of the fables of the Italian Faerno, a three-volume study on comparing ancient authors with new ones. creators. But nowhere in own biography Perrault did not mention in a word about the authorship of the phenomenal tales of Mother Goose, about unique masterpiece world culture.
Meanwhile, he had every reason to put this book in the register of victories. The book of fairy tales was an unprecedented success among the Parisians in 1696, every day in the shop of Claude Barben sold 20-30, and sometimes 50 books a day! This - on the scale of one store - was not dreamed of today, probably even by the bestseller about Harry Potter.
During the year, the publisher repeated the circulation three times. It was unheard of. First France, then all of Europe fell in love with magic stories about Cinderella, her evil sisters and glass slipper, reread scary tale about the knight Bluebeard, who killed his wives, rooted for the suave Little Red Riding Hood, who was swallowed by an evil wolf. (Only in Russia did the translators correct the ending of the tale, in our country woodcutters kill the wolf, and in the French original the wolf ate both the grandmother and the granddaughter).
In fact, the tales of Mother Goose became the world's first book written for children. Before that, no one specifically wrote books for children. But then children's books went like an avalanche. The phenomenon of children's literature was born from Perrault's masterpiece!
Great merit Perrot in what he chose from the mass of folk fairy tales several stories and fixed their plot, which has not yet become final. He gave them a tone, a climate, a style characteristic of the 17th century, and yet very personal.
At the core Perrault's fairy tales- well-known folklore plots, which he outlined with his inherent talent and humor, omitting some details and adding new ones, "ennobling" the language. Most of all these fairy tales fit the kids. And it is Perrault that can be considered the founder of children's world literature and literary pedagogy.
"Tales" contributed to the democratization of literature and influenced the development of the world fairy tradition(brothers W. and J. Grimm, L. Tiek, G. H. Andersen). In Russian, Perrault's fairy tales were first published in Moscow in 1768 under the title "Tales of Sorceresses with Morales". The operas “Cinderella” by G. Rossini, “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” by B. Bartok, the ballets “The Sleeping Beauty” by P. I. Tchaikovsky, “Cinderella” by S. S. Prokofiev and others were created on the plots of Perrault's fairy tales.
Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings
donkey skin
A poetic tale begins with a description happy life resplendent king, his beautiful and faithful wife and their lovely little daughter. They lived in a magnificent palace, in a rich and flourishing country. In the royal stable, next to the frisky horses, "a well-fed donkey hung its ears peacefully." "The Lord set up his womb so that if he sometimes crap, it was with gold and silver."
But here "in the prime of her magnificent years, the ruler's wife was suddenly stricken with an illness." Dying, she asks her husband "to go down the aisle a second time only with the chosen one, who will finally be more beautiful and worthy of me." The husband "swore to her through the river of insane tears in everything she was waiting for ... Among widowers, he was one of the noisiest! He cried so much, sobbed so much ..." However, "a year has not passed, as we are talking about shameless matchmaking." But the beauty of the deceased is surpassed only by her own daughter, and the father, inflamed with a criminal passion, decides to marry the princess. In desperation, she goes to her godmother - a good fairy that lives "in the wilderness of forests, in cave darkness, between shells, corals, mother-of-pearl." In order to upset the terrible wedding, the godmother advises the girl to demand from her father a wedding dress of the shade of clear days. "The task is cunning - it is not feasible in any way." But the king of "tailors called the masters and ordered from high throne chairs to tomorrow the gift was ready, otherwise how could he hang them for an hour!" And in the morning they bring "a wonderful gift from the tailors." Then the fairy advises the goddaughter to demand silk "lunar, unusual - he will not be able to get it." four days the dress is ready. The princess almost submits to her father with delight, but, "forced by her godmother," she asks for an outfit of "wonderful sunny flowers." The king threatens the jeweler with terrible tortures - and in less than a week he creates "porphyry from porphyry." "New clothes! - the fairy whispers contemptuously and orders to demand the skin of a precious donkey from the sovereign. But the king's passion is stronger than stinginess - and the skin is immediately brought to the princess.
Here, “the stern godmother found that disgust is inappropriate on the paths of good,” and on the advice of the fairy, the princess promises the king to marry him, and herself, throwing a vile skin over her shoulders and smearing her face with soot, runs out of the palace. The girl puts wonderful dresses in a box. The fairy gives the goddaughter a magic twig: "As long as it is in your hand, the box will crawl after you in the distance, like a mole hiding under the ground."
The royal messengers look for the fugitive all over the country in vain. The courtiers are in despair: "no wedding, that means no feasts, no cakes, that means no cakes ... The chaplain was most upset of all: he did not have time to eat in the morning and said goodbye to the wedding treat."
And the princess, dressed as a beggar, wanders along the road, looking for "at least a poultry house, even a swineherd. But the beggars themselves spit after the slut." Finally, the farmer takes the unfortunate woman as a servant - "to clean the pig stalls and wash the greasy rags. Now in the closet behind the kitchen is the princess's yard." The impudent villagers and "the masculine disgustingly disturb her," and even mock the poor thing. Her only joy is that, locking herself up in her closet on Sunday, washing herself, dressing up in one or another marvelous dress and turning around in front of the mirror. "Oh, Moonlight slightly pales her, and the sun makes her a little fat ... The blue dress is the best of all!
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And in these parts "the king, luxurious and omnipotent, kept a brilliant poultry yard." This park was often visited by the prince with a crowd of courtiers. "The princess has already fallen in love with him from a distance." Oh, if he loved girls in donkey skin! the beauty sighed. And the prince - "a heroic look, a fighting grip" - somehow came across a poor hut at dawn and saw through the crack a beautiful princess in a marvelous outfit. Struck by her noble appearance, the young man did not dare to enter the shack, but, returning to the palace, "did not eat, did not drink, did not dance; he lost interest in hunting, opera, fun and friends" - and thought only about mysterious beauty. He was told that a dirty beggar, Donkeyskin, lived in a squalid hut. The prince does not believe. "He weeps bitterly, he weeps" - and demands that Donkeyskin bake him a pie. The loving queen mother will not contradict her son, and the princess, "hearing these news", hurries to knead the dough. "They say: while working extraordinarily, she ... quite, quite by accident! - She dropped a ring into the dough." But "my opinion - there was her calculation." After all, she saw how the prince looked at her through the crack!
Having received the pie, the patient "devoured it with such greedy passion that, really, it seems like a fair amount of luck that he did not swallow the ring." Since the young man in those days "was losing weight terribly ... the doctors decided unanimously: the prince is dying of love." Everyone begs him to marry - but he agrees to marry only one who can put a tiny ring with an emerald on her finger. All virgins and widows begin to thin their fingers.
However, neither the noblewomen, nor the cute grisettes, nor the cooks and laborers, the ring fit. But then "from under the skin of a donkey appeared a fist that looked like a lily." Laughter stops. Everyone is shocked. The princess goes to change - and an hour later appears in the palace, shining with dazzling beauty and luxurious outfit. The king and queen are happy, the prince is happy. Bishops from all over the world are called to the wedding. The sensible father of the princess, seeing his daughter, cries for joy. The prince is delighted: "what a lucky chance that his father-in-law is such a mighty ruler." "Sudden thunder... The queen of the fairies, the witness of the misfortunes of the past, descends her goddaughter forever to glorify virtue..."
Moral: "It is better to endure terrible suffering than to change the debt of honor." After all, "youth is able to satisfy itself with a crust of bread and water, while it keeps an outfit in a golden casket."
Blue Beard
There was once a very rich man who had a blue beard. She so disfigured him that, seeing this man, all the women fled in fear. At his neighbor noble lady, had two daughters of wondrous beauty. He asked to marry any of these girls to him. But none of them wanted to have a spouse with a blue beard. They did not like the fact that this man had already been married several times and no one knew what fate befell his wives.
Bluebeard invited the girls, their mother, friends and girlfriends to one of his luxurious country houses where they had fun for a whole week. And so youngest daughter it began to seem that the beard of the owner of the house was not so blue, and that he himself was a very respectable man. Soon the wedding was decided.
A month later, Bluebeard told his wife that he was leaving on business for six weeks. He asked her not to be bored, to have fun, to call her friends, gave her the keys to all the chambers, pantries, caskets and chests - and forbade her to enter only one small room.
His wife promised to obey him, and he left. Immediately, without waiting for the messengers, the girlfriends came running. They were eager to see all the riches of Bluebeard, but they were afraid to come in his presence. Now, admiring the house full of priceless treasures, the guests enviously extolled the happiness of the newlywed, but she could only think of a small room ...
Finally, the woman abandoned the guests and rushed headlong down the secret staircase, almost breaking her neck. Curiosity overcame fear - and the beauty opened the door with trepidation ... In a dark room, the floor was covered with gore, and on the walls hung the bodies of Bluebeard's former wives, whom he had killed. In horror, the newlywed dropped the key. Picking it up, she locked the door and, trembling, rushed to her room. There, the woman noticed that the key was stained with blood. The unfortunate woman cleaned the stain for a long time, but the key was magical, and the blood, wiped off on one side, appeared on the other ...
Bluebeard returned the same evening. His wife greeted him with ostentatious delight. The next day he demanded the keys from the poor thing. Her hands trembled so much that he immediately guessed everything and asked: "Where is the key to the small room?" After various excuses, I had to bring a dirty key. "Why is he covered in blood?" inquired Bluebeard. "Did you enter the little room? Well, ma'am, that's where you'll stay now."
The woman, sobbing, threw herself at her husband's feet. Beautiful and sad, she would have softened even a stone, but Bluebeard's heart was harder than stone. "Let me at least pray before I die," the poor thing asked. "Give you seven minutes!" - answered the villain. Left alone, the woman called her sister and said to her: "Sister Anna, see if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today." The girl climbed the tower and from time to time said to the unfortunate woman: "There is nothing to see, only the sun is burning and the grass is shining in the sun." And Bluebeard, clutching a large knife in his hand, shouted: "Come here!" - "One more minute!" - answered the poor thing, and kept asking sister Anna, could you see the brothers? The girl noticed clouds of dust in the distance - but it was a herd of sheep. At last she saw two riders on the horizon...
Then Bluebeard roared throughout the house. The trembling wife came out to him, and he, grabbing her by the hair, was about to cut off her head, but at that moment a dragoon and a musketeer burst into the house. Drawing their swords, they rushed at the villain. He tried to run, but the brothers of the beauty pierced him with steel blades.
The wife inherited all the wealth of Bluebeard. She gave a dowry to her sister Anna when she married a young nobleman who had long loved her; the young widow helped each of the brothers to achieve the captain's rank, and then she herself married a good man who helped her forget the horrors of her first marriage.
Moral: "Yes, curiosity is a scourge. It confuses everyone, it was born on a mountain to mortals."
Riquet with a tuft
One queen had such an ugly son that the courtiers doubted for a long time whether he was a man. But Kind fairy she assured me that he would be very clever and would be able to endow with his mind the person whom he loved. Indeed, as soon as he learned to babble, the child began to say sweet things. He had a small tuft on his head, which is why the prince was nicknamed: Rike with a tuft.
Seven years later the queen neighboring country gave birth to two daughters; seeing the first - beautiful as day, - the mother was so delighted that she almost became ill, while the second girl turned out to be extremely ugly. But the same fairy predicted that the ugly woman would be very smart, and the beauty would be stupid and awkward, but she would be able to endow beauty with someone she liked.
The girls grew up - and the beauty always had much less success than her smart sister. And then one day in the forest, where the silly girl went to mourn her bitter fate, the unfortunate woman met with the freak Ricke. Having fallen in love with her from portraits, he came to the neighboring kingdom... The girl told Rika about her misfortune, and he said that if the princess decides to marry him in a year, she will immediately become wiser. The beauty foolishly agreed - and immediately spoke so witty and elegant that Riquet thought if he had not given her more intelligence than he had left to himself? ..
The girl returned to the palace, amazed everyone with her mind and soon became her father's main adviser; all the fans turned away from her ugly sister, and the fame of the beautiful and wise princess thundered all over the world. Many princes wooed the beauty, but she made fun of them all, until finally one rich, handsome and intelligent prince appeared ...
Walking through the forest and thinking about the choice of the groom, the girl suddenly heard a dull noise under her feet. At the same moment, the earth opened up, and the princess saw people preparing a sumptuous feast. "This is for Riquet, tomorrow is his wedding," they explained to the beauty. And then the shocked princess remembered that exactly a year had passed since the day she met the freak.
And soon Riquet himself appeared in a magnificent wedding dress. However, the wiser princess flatly refused to marry such an ugly man. And then Riquet revealed to her that she could endow her chosen one with beauty. The princess sincerely wished that Riquet became the most beautiful and amiable prince in the world - and a miracle happened!
True, others argue that the point here is not magic, but love. The princess, admiring the mind and loyalty of her admirer, stopped noticing his ugliness. The hump began to give the prince's posture a special importance, the terrible limp turned into a manner of leaning a little to one side, the slanting eyes acquired a captivating languor, and the big red nose seemed mysterious and even heroic.
The king gladly agreed to marry his daughter to such a wise prince, and the next day they played a wedding, for which the smart Rick had everything ready.
Charles Perrault (1628-1703) - French storyteller, critic and poet, was a member of the French Academy.
Childhood
On January 12, 1628, twin boys were born in Paris to the family of Pierre Perrault. They were named Francois and Charles. The head of the family worked as a judge in the Parliament of Paris. His wife was engaged in housekeeping and raising children, who were already four before the birth of the twins. After 6 months, little Francois fell ill with pneumonia and died, and his twin brother Charles became a favorite in the family and in the future glorified the Perrault family all over the world with his famous fairy tales. In addition to Charles, his older brother Claude was also famous - great architect, author of the eastern facade of the Louvre and the Paris Observatory.
The family was wealthy and intelligent. Charles' paternal grandfather was a wealthy merchant. Mom came from noble family, before marriage lived in the village estate of Viri. As a child, Charles often visited there and, most likely, later drew stories for his fairy tales from there.
Education
Parents did their best to ensure that their children received a decent education. While the boys were small, their mother worked with them, taught them to read and write. Father was very busy at work, but in free time always helped his wife. The Perrault brothers all studied at Beauvais University College, and Papa sometimes tested their knowledge. All the boys showed themselves excellently in their studies, for the entire period of study they were not flogged with rods, at that time it was a rarity.
When Charles was 13 years old, he was kicked out of class for arguing with a teacher. The guy dropped out of school, because in many ways he did not agree with the teachers.
Further education he received on his own with his best friend Boran. In three years they themselves learned Latin, the history of France, Greek and ancient literature. Charles later said that all the knowledge that was useful to him in life was obtained precisely during the period of self-study with a friend.
Having reached the age of majority, Perrault studied law with a private teacher. In 1651 he was granted a law degree.
Career and creativity
While still in college, Perrault wrote his first poems, comedies, and poems.
In 1653, his first work was published - a poetic parody "The Walls of Troy, or the Origin of Burlesque". But Perrault perceived literature as a hobby, he built his career in a completely different direction.
As his father wanted, having received a law degree, Charles worked as a lawyer for some time, but this kind of activity soon seemed to him not interesting. He went to work as a clerk to his older brother, who by that time contained an architectural department. It should be noted that Charles Perrault built his career successfully, rose to the rank of adviser to the King, chief inspector of buildings, then headed the Committee of Writers and the Department of the Glory of the King.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, statesman and the chief controller of finance, who actually ruled France during the time of Louis XIV, patronized Charles. Thanks to such a patron, in 1663, when creating the Academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, Perrault received the post of secretary. He achieved wealth and influence. Along with the main occupation, Charles successfully continued to write poetry and engage in literary criticism.
But in 1683, Colbert died, and Perrault became unmerciful at court, first he was deprived of his pension, and then the position of secretary.
During this period, the writing of the very first fairy tale about the shepherdess called "Grisel" falls. The author did not pay much attention to this work and continued to engage in criticism, writing a large four-volume collection of dialogues “A Comparison of Ancient and Modern Authors”, as well as publishing the book “ Famous people France of the seventeenth century.
When in 1694 his next two works, "Donkey Skin" and "Funny Desires", were published, it became clear that new era storyteller Charles Perrault.
In 1696, the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" published in the magazine "Gallant Mercury" became popular in an instant. And a year later, the success of the published book “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings” turned out to be incredible. The plots of the nine fairy tales included in this book, Perrault heard when the nurse of his son told them to the baby before going to bed. He took folk tales as a basis and gave artistic processing thus opening the way for them to high literature.
He managed many years folk art tie to the present, his tales were written in such an accessible way that they were read by people from high society and from simple classes. It's been over three centuries, and around the world, moms and dads read to their kids before bed:
- "Cinderella" and "Thumb Boy";
- "Puss in Boots" and "Little Red Riding Hood";
- « Gingerbread house and Bluebeard.
Charles Perrault- a famous French storyteller, poet and critic of the Classical era, a member of the French Academy since 1671, now known mainly as an author " Tales of Mother Goose».
Name Charles Perrault- one of the most popular names of storytellers in Russia, along with the names of Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Hoffmann. The marvelous fairy tales of Perrault from the collection of fairy tales of Mother Goose: "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", "Puss in Boots", "Boy with a Thumb", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Blue Beard" are famous in Russian music, ballets, films, theater performances , in painting and drawing dozens and hundreds of times.
Charles Perrault born January 12, 1628 in Paris, in a wealthy family of the judge of the Paris Parliament, Pierre Perrault, and was the youngest of his seven children (the twin brother Francois was born with him, who died after 6 months). Of his brothers, Claude Perrault was a famous architect, author of the east facade of the Louvre (1665-1680).
The boy's family was concerned about the education of their children, and at the age of eight, Charles was sent to Beauvais College. As historian Philippe Aries notes, the school biography of Charles Perrault is the biography of a typical excellent student. During the training, neither he nor his brothers were ever beaten with rods - an exceptional case at that time. Charles Perrault dropped out of college before finishing his studies.
After college Charles Perrault takes private law lessons for three years and eventually earns a law degree. He bought a lawyer's license, but soon left this position and went as a clerk to his brother, the architect Claude Perrault.
He enjoyed the confidence of Jean Colbert, in the 1660s he largely determined the policy of the court of Louis XIV in the field of arts. Thanks to Colbert, Charles Perrault in 1663 was appointed secretary of the newly formed Academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres. Perrault was also the general controller of the surintendentship of the royal buildings. After the death of his patron (1683), he fell into disfavor and lost the pension paid to him as a writer, and in 1695 lost his position as secretary.
1653 - first work Charles Perrault- a parody poem "The Wall of Troy, or the Origin of Burlesque" (Les murs de Troue ou l'Origine du burlesque).
1687 - Charles Perrault reads his didactic poem "The Age of Louis the Great" (Le Siecle de Louis le Grand) at the French Academy, which marked the beginning of a long-term "dispute about the ancient and the new", in which Nicolas Boileau becomes Perrault's most violent opponent. Perrault opposes the imitation and long-established worship of antiquity, arguing that the contemporaries, the "new", surpassed the "ancients" in literature and science, and that this is proved by the literary history of France and recent scientific discoveries.
1691 – Charles Perrault for the first time in the genre fairy tales and writes "Griselda" (Griselde). This is a poetic adaptation of Boccaccio's short story, which completes the Decameron (the 10th novella of the 10th day). In it, Perrault does not break with the principle of plausibility, there is still no magic fantasy here, just as there is no color of the national folklore tradition. The tale has a salon-aristocratic character.
1694 - the satire "Apology of Women" (Apologie des femmes) and a poetic story in the form of medieval fablios "Amusing Desires". At the same time, the fairy tale "Donkey Skin" (Peau d'ane) was written. It is still written in verse, in the spirit of poetic short stories, but its plot is already taken from a folk tale, which was then widespread in France. Although there is nothing fantastic in the fairy tale, fairies appear in it, which violates the classic principle of plausibility.
1695 - issuing his fairy tales, Charles Perrault in the preface he writes that his tales are higher than the ancient ones, because, unlike the latter, they contain moral instructions.
1696 - The magazine "Gallant Mercury" anonymously published the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", for the first time fully embodying the features of a new type of fairy tale. It is written in prose, accompanied by a verse moralizing. The prose part can be addressed to children, the poetic part - only to adults, and the moral lessons are not devoid of playfulness and irony. In the fairy tale, fantasy turns from a secondary element into a leading one, which is already noted in the title (La Bella au bois dormant, the exact translation is “Beauty in the Sleeping Forest”).
Perrault's literary activity comes at a time when a fashion for fairy tales appears in high society. Reading and listening to fairy tales is becoming one of the common hobbies of secular society, comparable only to the reading of detective stories by our contemporaries. Some prefer to listen to philosophical tales, others pay tribute to the old tales, which have come down in the retelling of grandmothers and nannies. Writers, trying to satisfy these requests, write down fairy tales, processing the plots familiar to them from childhood, and the oral fairy tale tradition gradually begins to turn into a written one.
1697 - a collection of fairy tales " Mother Goose Tales, or Stories and tales of bygone times with moral teachings "(Contes de ma mere" Oye, ou Histores et contesdu temps passe avec des moralites). The collection contained 9 tales, which were a literary processing of folk tales (believed to have been heard from the nurse of Perro's son ) - except for one (“Riquet-tuft"), composed by Charles Perrault himself. This book widely glorified Perrault outside the literary circle. In fact Charles Perrault introduced folk tale into the system of genres of "high" literature.
However, Perrault did not dare to publish the tales under his own name, and the book he published contained the name of his eighteen-year-old son, P. Darmancourt. He was afraid that with all the love for "fabulous" entertainment, writing fairy tales would be perceived as a frivolous occupation, casting a shadow on the authority of a serious writer with its frivolity.
It turns out that in philological science there is still no exact answer to an elementary question: who wrote the famous fairy tales?
The fact is that when the book of fairy tales of Mother Goose was first published, and it happened in Paris on October 28, 1696, a certain Pierre D Armancourt was designated as the author of the book in the dedication.
However, in Paris they quickly learned the truth. Under the magnificent pseudonym D Armancourt, none other than the youngest and beloved son of Charles Perrault, nineteen-year-old Pierre was hiding. For a long time it was believed that the writer father went to this trick only in order to introduce the young man into high society, specifically into the circle of the young Princess of Orleans, the niece of King Louis the Sun. After all, this book was dedicated to her. But later it turned out that young Perrault, on the advice of his father, wrote down some folk tales, and there are documentary references to this fact.
In the end, the situation was completely confused by himself Charles Perrault.
Shortly before his death, the writer wrote a memoir, where he described in detail all the more or less important things of his life: serving with Minister Colbert, editing the first General Dictionary of the French Language, poetic odes in honor of the king, translations of the fables of the Italian Faerno, a three-volume study on comparing ancient authors with new ones. creators. But nowhere in his biography did Perrault mention the authorship of the phenomenal tales of Mother Goose, a unique masterpiece of world culture.
Meanwhile, he had every reason to put this book in the register of victories. The book of fairy tales was an unprecedented success among the Parisians in 1696, every day in the shop of Claude Barben sold 20-30, and sometimes 50 books a day! This - on the scale of one store - was not dreamed of today, probably even by the bestseller about Harry Potter.
During the year, the publisher repeated the circulation three times. It was unheard of. First, France, then all of Europe fell in love with magical stories about Cinderella, her evil sisters and a glass slipper, reread the terrible tale of the knight Bluebeard, who killed his wives, rooted for the suave Little Red Riding Hood, who was swallowed by an evil wolf. (Only in Russia did the translators correct the ending of the tale, in our country woodcutters kill the wolf, and in the French original the wolf ate both the grandmother and the granddaughter).
In fact, the tales of Mother Goose became the world's first book written for children. Before that, no one specifically wrote books for children. But then children's books went like an avalanche. The phenomenon of children's literature was born from Perrault's masterpiece!
Great merit Perrot in what he chose from the mass of folk fairy tales several stories and fixed their plot, which has not yet become final. He gave them a tone, a climate, a style characteristic of the 17th century, and yet very personal.
At the core Perrault's fairy tales- well-known folklore plots, which he outlined with his inherent talent and humor, omitting some details and adding new ones, "ennobling" the language. Most of all these fairy tales fit the kids. And it is Perrault that can be considered the founder of children's world literature and literary pedagogy.
"Tales" contributed to the democratization of literature and influenced the development of the world fairy tale tradition (brothers V. and J. Grimm, L. Tiek, G. H. Andersen). In Russian, Perrault's fairy tales were first published in Moscow in 1768 under the title "Tales of Sorceresses with Morales". The operas “Cinderella” by G. Rossini, “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” by B. Bartok, the ballets “The Sleeping Beauty” by P. I. Tchaikovsky, “Cinderella” by S. S. Prokofiev and others were created on the plots of Perrault's fairy tales.
