What works did Charles Perrault write? Charles Perrault: unknown facts about the famous storyteller

Charles Perrault: biography and fairy tales for children

Charles Perrault: biography of a writer for adults and children, entertaining stories about the creation of fairy tales by Charles Perrault, audio fairy tales for children. cognitive interesting video for children about the storyteller's biography.

Who wrote the fairy tales of Charles Perrault? What is the difference between the fairy tales of Charles Perrault and the modern children's versions known to us? How did Charles Perrault become a children's writer?

Biography of Charles Perrault (1628-1703)

In this article you will find:

— biography Charles Perrault - short, understandable, accessible and interesting for adults and children,
- entertaining and amazing facts And the history of the creation of fairy tales by Charles Perrault,

- educational video for children about the biography of Charles Perrault,
— original lyrics author and how they differ from modern children's texts known to us,
— bibliography about the life and work of Charles Perrault for adults and children,
— list of fairy tales Charles Perrault in alphabetical order,
— filmstrips for children based on the fairy tales of Charles Perrault .

The story of Charles Perrault... Probably, you are waiting at the beginning of this article for a story about how Charles Perrault dreamed of becoming a storyteller since childhood and how he consciously came to the decision to write fairy tales for children that have been known for over 300 years? But everything in his life was completely different.

And Charles Perrault was not a storyteller at all, a .. an eloquent lawyer, scientist and poet, architect at the court of the king in the department of royal buildings, a member of the French Academy. He was a courtier, accustomed to shine in high society and not at all a children's writer.

How did he write his favorite children's fairy tales so far? What family did you grow up in? What education did you receive? And did he even write fairy tales? Yes, we still do not know for sure whether Charles Perrault really wrote the fairy tales known to us about Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood or it was not him at all. And if someone else wrote them, then who is this unknown author? More on this in the article below.

Portrait of Charles Perrault

Biography of Charles Perrault: childhood and youth

Charles Perrault, now known to all adults and children as the author of "Little Red Riding Hood", "Puss in Boots", "Riquet with a Tuft", "Boy with a Finger" and other fairy tales, Born more than 350 years ago - in the city of Tournai on January 12, 1628. They say that at birth, the baby screamed so that it was heard at the other end of the quarter, announcing the whole world about his birth.

Charles Perrault grew up in a wealthy, educated family. Charles Pierrot's grandfather was a wealthy merchant in Turin. Charles's father, Pierre Pierrot, received an excellent education and was a lawyer in the Parisian parliament. Charles Perrault's mother came from a noble family. As a child, Charles Perrault lived for a long time in his mother's estate - in the village of Viry, from where, perhaps, the images of his "village" fairy tales appeared.

The family had many children. Charles had five brothers. One brother, Francois, Charles's twin, died before he was a year old. Researchers of the biography of Charles Perrault claim that his shadow haunted Charles all his life and greatly interfered with him in childhood. This was until Charles became friends in college with the boy Borin, who helped to “remove the spell of Francois” and became his true friend, who they say “you can’t spill with water” and actually replaced his departed twin brother. After that, Charles became more self-confident, more successful in his studies.

The four Pierrot brothers, like Charles Pierrot, will become worthy people in the future, occupy important positions
Jean becomes a lawyer
- Pierre - tax collector in Paris,
- Claude was admitted to the Academy of Sciences, became an architect, built the Paris Observatory and the Louvre Colonnade, created decorations for the Versailles Cathedral, practiced medicine,
- Nicolas wanted to become a professor at the Sorbonne, but did not have time, as he lived only 38 years. He taught theology.

All the Pierrot brothers, including Charles, graduated from Beauvais College. Charles Perrault entered this college at the age of 8 and graduated from the Faculty of Arts there. There are different opinions about how young Charles studied. And all these opinions are very contradictory. Someone claims that he studied very poorly, someone that he was a brilliant student. Are there any facts? Yes, I have. It is known that in the early years, Charles Perrault did not shine with success in education, but then everything changed dramatically when he made friends with a boy named Borin. This friendship had a very positive effect on Charles, he became one of the best students and, together with a friend, developed his own system of classes - such that he even overtook the program in history, Latin and French.

In those years, literature was just a hobby for a young college student, Charles Perrault. He began writing his first poems, poems, and comedies during his college year. His brothers wrote literary works. The Perrot brothers talked with the leading writers of that time (with Chanlin, Molière, Corneille, Boileau) in the then fashionable salons and introduced him to best writers that time.

Biography of Charles Perrault: adult years

Charles Perrault, at the insistence of his father, first worked as a lawyer, and then went to work for his brother, in his department as a tax collector. He diligently made a career, and did not even think about literature as a serious occupation. He became rich, powerful, influential. He became an adviser to the king and the chief inspector of buildings, headed the Committee of Writers and the Department of the Glory of the King (such was the department, now it would probably be called the "king's PR department" at that time :)).

At 44, Charles married the young Marie Pichon, she was 18 at the time. They had 4 children. There are different opinions about the family life of Charles, and again contradictory. Some biographers of Charles write about his tender love for his wife and family, others have the opposite opinion. They lived family life not for long - only six years. Charles Pierrot's wife died quite early - at 24 - from smallpox. Then this disease could not be cured. After that, Charles Perrault himself raised his children - three sons - and never married again.

The literary life of Charles Perrault

What was this era - the era of the life of Charles Perrault- in development French literature And cultural life this country? She is well known to us from the novels of Dumas. At this time there was a war between England and France. And at the same time there was a flowering of classicism in French literature. Let's compare the dates: around the same time, Jean-Baptiste Molière (1622), Jacques La Fontaine (1621), Jean Racine (1639), Pierre Corneille, the father of French tragedy (1606), were born. Around Pierrot, the heyday of literature flourishes - the "golden age" of French classicism. There is still no interest in the fairy tale and it will appear only in a hundred years, the fairy tale is considered a “low” genre, “serious” writers do not pay attention to it at all.

At the end of the 17th century, there was a dispute in literature between the "ancient" and the "new". The "ancients" claimed that literature had already reached perfection in the ancient years. The new ones said that contemporary writers they are already discovering and will still discover to humanity something completely new in art, previously unknown. Pierrot became the "leader" of the new ones. In 1697 he wrote a four-volume study, The Parallel between Ancient and Modern. What to oppose to ancient antiquity? Such an old folk tale!

Perrault said in his work: “Look around! And you will see that it is possible to enrich the content and form of art without imitating ancient patterns.” Here are his words about antiquity and modern times:

Antiquity, no doubt, respectable and beautiful,
But we are accustomed to fall prostrate before her in vain:
After all, even the ancient great minds -
Not inhabitants of heaven, but people like us.
And the age of Louis I with the August age
Compare, not being a boastful person. […]
If anyone in our century would decide at least once
To throw off the veil of prejudice
And look into the past with a calm, sober look,
That with perfections he would see next
A lot of weaknesses - and finally realized
What is not in everything for us is antiquity a sample,
And no matter how much they tell us about it in schools,
In many ways, we are ahead of the ancients.
(Charles Perrault, translation by I. Shafarenko)

Charles Perrault as the author of famous children's fairy tales

A mysterious story about the authorship of fairy tales known to us

Who wrote the "fairy tales of Charles Perrault"?

“... My stories are even more worthy of being retold than most of the ancient legends... Virtue in them is always rewarded, and vice is punished... All these are seeds thrown into the soil, which at first give rise only to outbursts of joy or bouts of sadness, but subsequently without fail evoke good inclinations."Charles Perrot. Introduction to the collection of fairy tales.

The fairy tales of Charles Perrault were written as "moral" and life-teaching tales. And they were .. in verse! How??? You will be surprised ... why in verse, because we read the fairy tales of Charles Perrault to children in prose, and not in verse? Let's take a look at this very mysterious history about what kind of fairy tales Charles Perrault wrote and who wrote them in general.

The history of the creation of Perrault's fairy tales is like a detective puzzle, which still does not have a single answer. Since the publication of Charles Perrault's fairy tales in prose (1697), there has been controversy about their authorship.

The only known and generally recognized fact is that the basis of all the plots of the fairy tales of Charles Perrault are well-known folk tales, and not his author's intention. Perrault created an author's literary fairy tale on their basis.

There are a variety of versions about the writing of Charles Perrault's fairy tales.

Version 1. Charles Perrault wrote only fairy tales in verse, and children's fairy tales known to all of us in prose were written by his son Pierre.

Here's how it was - one of the versions.

The fairy tales of Charles Perrault known to us were included in his collection "Tales Mother Goose» , which was reprinted several times with changes and additions.

In the fourth edition of the collection there were fairy tales in verse (1691 - fairy tales "Griselda", "Donkey Skin", "Funny Desires"). And it was published under the name of Charles Perrault himself.

In the fifth edition of the same collection and "Tales of Mother Goose" (1697) had five tales in prose: "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bluebeard", "Mr. Puss, or Puss in Boots" and "Sorceresses". But ... there is one very important "but". All these fairy tales were signed not by Charles Perrault, but by the name of his youngest son as the author of fairy tales! The author of the fairy tales known to us was Pierre d'Armancourt. It is his name that was given a dedication in the collection (it was dedicated to the young nephew of Louis XIV, Elizabeth Charlotte of Orleans).

The manuscript of "The Tales of Mother Goose" has been preserved, signed with the initials P.P (Pierre Perrault is the son of Charles Perrault). The father knew what he was doing. Pierre presented the manuscript of fairy tales to the princess. And .. very soon Pierre received title of nobility. When the collection was published, instead of P.P. it already indicated the authorship of "Pierre d'Armancourt".

A year later, “Tales of Mother Goose” were reprinted again and three more new tales appeared in them: “Cinderella, or a shoe trimmed with fur”, “Riquet with a tuft” and “A boy with a finger”. The stories sold out. And their author - Pierre Perrault - became famous.

But the situation has changed dramatically in a tragic direction. Pierre - the son of Charles Perrault - in a fight killed a man with a sword, a neighbor's guy. For this he was arrested. Charles Perrault managed to ransom his son from prison and send him as a lieutenant to the army, where he died in battle. And three years later, Charles Perrault himself died.

For another twenty years, the book was published under the name of Perrault's son - the author on the cover was Pierre Perrault d'Harmancourt . And after that, another name appeared on the cover of fairy tales in prose - Charles Perrault, since he was a much more significant figure in the life of the state and French literature. After that, fairy tales in prose and fairy tales in verse were combined into one collection "Tales of Mother Goose" and began to be published under the single name of the author - Charles Perrault.

So fairy tales about Cinderella, Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood are still published in collections called “Tales of Mother Goose, or Stories and Tales of Bygone Times with Teachings” by Charles Perrault.

During his lifetime, Charles Perrault never claimed to be the author of fairy tales in the Oze, their author was considered and was his son. And even in his autobiography, he did not mention a word about the authorship of fairy tales in prose and never in his life put his signature under them.

Version 2. Traditional version. Charles Perrault deliberately concealed his authorship and presented his son as the author of fairy tales, since fairy tales were not then considered a serious occupation for a “real writer”.

In 1697 Charles Perrault publishes the collection "Tales of Mother Goose" under the name of his son and on the cover of the collection as the author is Pierre Perrault d'Harmancourt. The collection includes eight fairy tales: "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bluebeard", "Puss in Boots", "Fairies", "Cinderella", "Riquet with a Tuft", "Boy with a Thumb". In subsequent editions, the collection was replenished with three more tales: "Funny Desires" (in other translations - "Funny Desires"), "Donkey's Skin", "Griselda".

Dedication in the book was this (written on behalf of the son of Charles Perrault as the author of fairy tales): “Your highness. Probably no one will find it strange that it occurred to a child to compose the tales that make up this collection; however, everyone will be surprised that he had the courage to offer them to you. Indeed, what is not allowed for an adult is excusable for a child or youth.

The proof of this point of view is that, in particular, the life impressions of Charles Perrault, and not his son, are reflected in fairy tales. It is considered a well-known fact that the castle of the Sleeping Beauty is the famous castle of Usse on the Loire. Now it houses the Charles Perrault Museum with wax figures of his fairy-tale characters. Charles Perrault first saw this castle when he was the intendant of the royal buildings. At that time, the castle was already in desolation, in dense thickets, over which towered battlements - exactly the same as it is described in the fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

And also, as evidence, the fact is given that fairy tales end with verses - moral moralizing, which a child or a young man would hardly have written.

Charles Perrault was the first European writer to take the liberty of introducing into the circle classical literature"low genre" fairy tales. And that is why Charles had to hide his name in the authorship of the collection with the common name "Tales of Mother Goose." After all, at that time he became an innovator, and innovation was not always safe and not always encouraged.

The traditional version is convincingly proved by French literary critics of the 20th and 21st centuries, in particular, Marc Soriano. And also in textbooks of literature.

Version 3. Young Pierre Perrault wrote down folk tales, and his father Charles Perrault edited them seriously. Or maybe Charles Perrault composed these tales for his son when he was little and later simply wrote them down in his name.

According to this version, every evening Charles Perrault told his children fairy tales that he remembered from childhood. Then there were not enough stories, and he began to collect them from servants, cooks, maids, which greatly amused them, because fairy tales were not considered something serious then. His passion for fairy tales was inherited by his youngest son Pierre. The boy started a notebook in which he wrote down everything he heard from his father and other people. magic stories. It was this notebook that became the basis for our favorite fairy tales in prose, created in collaboration with the father of Charles Perrault and his youngest son.

Whatever the case, and whoever invented the tales, it is generally accepted that it was Charles Perrault who first introduced the folk tale into noble society. And he became the founder of a whole trend - a literary fairy tale for children.

And who was the true author of "Cinderella" or "Puss in Boots" - Charles Perrault himself or his youngest son, will probably remain a mystery. I adhere to the traditional point of view (version 2) and therefore call the author of the fairy tales in this article - by the name we are all familiar with - Charles Perrault.

Did Charles Perrault write fairy tales for children?

Very interesting fairy tale facts

The collection "Tales of Mother Goose" was not intended for children at all, it was written primarily for adults and had an adult connotation. Each fairy tale by Charles Perrault ended with a moralizing in verse. Let's look at what lessons were laid in some fairy tales.

Little Red Riding Hood

For example, now many fairy tale therapists are arguing about the fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood and the meanings inherent in it. But the meaning was revealed by Charles Perrault himself in his poetic afterword to the fairy tale. Here it is:

Little kids for no reason
(And especially girls,
Beauties and spoiled women),
On the way, meeting all sorts of men,
You can not listen to insidious speeches, -
Otherwise, the wolf may eat them.
I said wolf! Wolves can't be counted
But there are others in between.
Rogues so puffy
What, sweetly exuding flattery,
The maiden's honor is guarded,
Accompany their walks home,
Spend them bye-bye through the dark back streets ...
But the wolf, alas, is more modest than it seems,
That is why he is always crafty and scary!

In Charles Perrault's tale, the hunters don't come and save Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother! There are no hunters at all in the plot of his fairy tale. And in the folk tale and in the same story, the brothers Grimm have hunters who save Riding Hood and her grandmother.

Why such a difference in the plot of the tale? It is explained very simply. Charles Perrault wrote a fairy tale for adult frivolous girls, wanting to warn them, and not at all for children! The tale was intended for the ladies of secular salons - "especially the slender and beautiful girls" and was supposed to warn naive girls from insidious seducers.

Charles Perrault was convinced that the tragedies in a fairy tale are necessary for teaching life (a fairy tale is a lesson in life) and therefore would have been so merciless to our beloved Little Red Riding Hood. After all, life can also be merciless to the “girl”.

Blue Beard

Another fairy tale by Charles Perrault known to all of us is the fairy tale "Bluebeard". What do you think is the moral of this story? Perrault condemned the evil man named Bluebeard? Not at all! Interestingly, in the moral of this tale, the author does not talk about the villain - the husband of Bluebeard, but about ... the perniciousness of female curiosity!

Here is the moral of the story:

Amusing female passion for immodest secrets;
It is known, after all, that it was expensive,
Lost in an instant both taste and sweetness.

Puss in Boots

And the moral of the fairy tale "Puss in Boots" in the words of Charles Perrault sounded like this:

And if the millers son can
Disturb the princess's heart
And she looks at him, she is barely alive,
It means youth and joy
And without inheritance they will be in sweetness,
And the heart loves, and the head is spinning .

So, neither life nor a fairy tale is possible without love! There will be love - there will be youth and joy even without an inheritance! Here is such an interesting testament from Charles Perrault.

sleeping Beauty

Afterword with moralizing to the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" sounded like this:

Wait a little for the husband to turn up,
Handsome and rich, moreover,
It is quite possible and understandable.
But a hundred for long years, lying in bed, waiting
For ladies it's so unpleasant
That no one can sleep.
Perhaps we will derive the second lesson:
Often the links of the bonds that Hymen knits,
While scattered, and sweeter, and more tender,
So waiting is good luck, not torment.
But tender floor with such fire
He repeats his creed of marriage,
What to sow hell of doubt in him
We do not have enough gloomy anger.

Patience, female patience as a female virtue that will be rewarded - it turns out that this is what is important in this fairy tale!

How fairy tales of Charles Perrault came to Russia

In translation into Russian, the fairy tales of Charles Perrault were first published in 1768 in a collection called "Tales of Wizards with Morales". Later, the tale "Puss in Boots" was translated into verse by V. A. Zhukovsky. He also wrote The Sleeping Princess.

And in 1867, a collection of fairy tales by Charles Perrault was published with a preface by I. S. Turgenev and without poetic moralizing at the end of the fairy tales, with illustrations by G. Dore. Translation by I.S. Turgenev helped fairy tales gain popularity in Russia. But then fairy tales were called differently. For example, instead of "Cinderella" there was the name of the fairy tale "Zamarashka".

“Despite their somewhat scrupulous old French grace, the tales of Perrault deserve place of honor in children's literature. They are cheerful, entertaining, unconstrained ... they still feel the influence of folk poetry, which once created them; they have precisely that mixture of incomprehensibly - wonderful and ordinary-simple, sublime and funny, which is hallmark true fairy tale." I.S. Turgenev. From the preface to the collection of fairy tales

After the publication of fairy tales by Charles Perrault based on them, the lyric-comic opera Cinderella by Rossini, the ballet Cinderella by Sergei Prokofiev, and the play for children by Yevgeny Schwartz Cinderella appeared in Russia (the famous film for children Cinderella was shot based on the script of the play) .

An adaptation of Charles Perrault's fairy tales for children

This is important to know: now we are not reading to children the author's texts of Charles Perrault in translation, but adapted texts of fairy tales, specially created for children's perception by Russian translators. They were retold for children by M. Bulatov, A. Lyubarskaya, N. Kasatkina, L. Uspensky, A. Fedorov, S. Bobrov. They do not contain poetic moralizing, many plots have been changed. Fairy tales have become truly childish, "adult" texts and incidents have been removed from them.

Examples of changing the plots of fairy tales by Charles Perrault and adapting them for children:

- Charles Perrault's mother-in-law sleeping beauty was a cannibal. Russian translators removed these fragments.

- Little Red Riding Hood is certainly saved by hunters and appears again in the Light of God. In Charles Perrault, she was destroyed by a wolf once and for all.

- In the fairy tale "Donkey Skin" by Charles Perrault, the king, having become a widow, falls in love with his own daughter and wants to marry her! Therefore, the princess flees from him in horror and wants to disguise herself as a donkey skin. In the Russian translation for children, there is no attempted incest. Here the princess is not a daughter, but a pupil, a daughter close friend the king who was adopted. And she just does not want to become the wife of an old husband.

— Boy - with - finger in Charles' fairy tale, Perrault seizes the cannibal's wealth and/or seven-league boots and grows rich by delivering letters to lovers. We do not have this in a fairy tale for children. The woodcutter simply lived richly and no longer had his children in the forest.

Brief biography of Charles Perrault for older preschool children

What can you tell children 5-6 years old about Charles Perrault? The most important and unusual in the biography. For example, a brief biography of the life of Charles Perrault for kids could be told before a quiz on his fairy tales like this:

A story for children about Charles Perrault

Tell me, please, what fairy tales of Charles Perrault do you know? (Children's answers.) Wonderful! And who will name their favorite fairy tale by this author? (Children's answers) Yes, I also really love the fairy tale about Cinderella, and about Puss in Boots, and about Little Red Riding Hood. And what do we know about their author, Charles Perrault? I'll tell you a little about him.

Charles Perrault was born in France over three hundred years ago. Then the state was ruled by a very strong and glorious King Louis XIV. They called him the Sun King. The king loved splendor and gold, he loved to build palaces and castles. He loved balls and danced with pleasure. The ladies at these dance parties were dressed in long dresses and glittering with jewelry, they looked like fairy fairies. And their gentlemen were distinguished by lush curly wigs. And Perrault also wore a wig. (Showing a portrait of Charles Perrault.)

Charles Perrault served at the court of the Sun King, was engaged in political affairs, the construction of royal buildings, wrote poems, plays and fairy tales. His fairy tales, which he released so long ago under the title "Tales of Mother Goose", are loved by all children. And you including. Maybe we'll try to take a trip to our favorite fairy tales? So, go ahead! (Followed by a quiz - a meeting with the tales of Charles Perrault. The author of the text is K. Zurabova. See: Zurabova K. The Tale of the Storyteller. At the Year of France in Russia. // preschool education, 2010. No. 8. S. 70-79).

Educational video for children about the biography of Charles Perrault

Fairy tales are “not trifles at all ... They all aim to show what are the advantages of honesty, patience, forethought, diligence and obedience, and what misfortunes befall those who deviate from these virtues.” Charles Perrot.

Charles Perrault: bibliography

List of fairy tales by Charles Perrault in alphabetical order

Griselda
Cinderella or glass slipper
Puss in Boots
Little Red Riding Hood
Thumb boy
donkey skin
fairy gifts
funny wishes
Riquet with a tuft
Blue Beard
sleeping Beauty

List of literature and methodological developments on the biography and work of Charles Perrault

Aleshina G. N. At Cinderella's ball: [matinee based on the fairy tale "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault] / G. N. Aleshina // Books, notes and toys for Katyushka and Andryushka. -2011.-№5.-S. 11-12.

Ardan, I. N. Literary game based on the work of Charles Perrault / I. N. Ardan // Pedagogical Council. - 2010. - No. 5. - S. 3-10.

B. Begak. Academic storyteller: [about the work of the French writer Ch. Perrault] // Preschool education, 1981, No. 10, p. 53-55.

B. Begak. The fairy tale lives!: To the 350th anniversary of Ch. Perrault. // Teacher's newspaper, 1978, January 12.

Boyko S.P. Magic country of Charles Perrault. - Stavropol: Book. publishing house, 1992. - 317 p. (The second part of the book describes an imaginary dialogue of our contemporary visiting Charles Perrault with an entertaining retelling of the biography through the lips of Charles himself)

Boyko S.P. Charles Perrault (from the ZhZL series - Life wonderful people). M.: Young Guard, 2005. 291 p.

Brandis E.P. Tales of Charles Perrault. Book: From Aesop to Gianni Rodari. - M.: Det.lit., 1980. S.28-32.

Zurabova K. The Tale of the Storyteller // Preschool Education, 2010. No. 8. P. 70-79.

Competition on the fairy tales of Ch. Perrault for the attentive and well-read: for students in grades 5-6 / ed. L. I. Zhuk // V fairyland. - Minsk, 2007. - S. 120-125. - (Holiday at school).

Kuzmin F. Storyteller of Mother Goose. To the 350th anniversary of the birth of Ch. Perro. / / Family and School, 1978. No. 1. pp. 46-47.

Sharov A. Lovely and tragic world Perrot // In the book: Sharov A. Wizards come to people. - M .: Children's literature, 1979. - S. 251-263

Tales of Charles Perrault: filmstrips and audio tales for children

And at the end of the article - voiced filmstrips based on the tales of Charles Perrault for children

Charles Perrot. Little Red Riding Hood

Charles Perrot. Cinderella

Charles Perrot. Puss in Boots

Charles Perrot. Thumb boy

Modern high-quality editions of fairy tales by Charles Perrault for children

While preparing this article, I looked through a lot of editions of Charles Perrault's fairy tales. Alas, not all of them differ in quality. Therefore, at the end of the article, I compiled for you, dear readers"Native Paths", which collect not just books for the children's library, but books that educate the artistic taste of the child, those books that I can recommend. Both in terms of the quality of the translation and the quality of the illustrations. In the list, I give not just a link to the book, but also a brief annotation to it. Pay attention to her.

Fairy tale collections:

Charles Perrot. Magic tales. Translation by I.S. Turgenev. - ID Meshcheryakova, 2016. Series "Book with history". The book is aged, with wonderful illustrations. The texts of fairy tales are unusual for us, they are from the first translation of the edition and were intended for adults (see audio fairy tales above). Therefore, I would not read them to very young children.

Charles Perrot. Magic tales. Fairy tales are given in translation for preschoolers by M. A. Bulatov. The book is specially created for kids, educating artistic taste. It has 9 stories. Amazing illustrations of Traugot.

Small thin books for children with individual fairy tales by Ch. Perrault:

Charles Perrot. Cinderella. In the classical translation by T. Gabbe. Excellent illustrations by Reipolsky. My favorite series is "Mom's Book" - books from our childhood published by "Rech".

Another favorite book from childhood. Charles Perrot. Cinderella. Classic illustrations by Konashevich V.M. Translation by N. Kasatkina. Publisher: Melik-Pashaev. Series "Subtle masterpieces for the little ones". Printed on heavy coated paper.

Charles Perrot. Little Red Riding Hood. Publishing house "Rech". Series "Pages - small". Also a book from my childhood. Very bright and beloved by children illustrations by G. Bedarev

Publishing house Astrel. The book is a thin non-standard format. Lots of great illustrations excellent quality paper and printing.

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One day two boys came to the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. It was a weekday morning. They were two students of the Beauvais College. One of them, Charles, was expelled from the lesson, the second, Borin, followed his friend. The boys sat down on the bench and began to discuss the current situation - what to do next. They knew one thing for sure: they would not return to the boring college for anything. But you have to study. Charles heard this from childhood from his father, who was a lawyer for the Paris Parliament. And his mother was an educated woman, she herself taught her sons to read and write. When Charles entered college at the age of eight and a half, his father checked his lessons every day, he had great respect for books, teaching, and literature. But only at home, with his father and brothers, it was possible to argue, to defend his point of view, and in college it was required to cram, it was only necessary to repeat after the teacher, and God forbid, argue with him. Because of these discussions, Charles was kicked out of the lesson.

No, more than a foot in the hateful college! But what about education? The boys racked their brains and made a decision: we will study on our own. Right there in the Luxembourg Gardens, they drew up a routine and next day started its implementation.
Borin came to Charles at 8 in the morning, they studied together until 11, then dined, rested and studied again from 3 to 5. The boys read ancient authors together, studied the history of France, studied Greek and Latin, in a word, those subjects that they would pass and in college.
“If I know anything,” Charles wrote many years later, “I owe it exclusively to these three or four years of study.”
What happened to the second boy named Borin, we do not know, but the name of his friend is now known to everyone - his name was Charles Perrault. And the story you've just learned took place in 1641, under Louis XIV, the Sun King, in the era of curled wigs and musketeers. It was then that the one whom we know as the great storyteller lived. True, he himself did not consider himself a storyteller, and sitting with a friend in the Luxembourg Gardens, he did not even think about such trifles.

Charles Perrault was born on January 12, 1628. He was not a nobleman, but his father, as we know, sought to give all his sons (he had four of them) a good education. Two of the four have become truly famous: firstly, the eldest is Claude Perrault, who became famous as an architect (he, by the way, is the author of the East facade of the Louvre). The second celebrity in the Perrault family was the youngest, Charles. He wrote poetry: odes, poems, very numerous, solemn and long. Now few people remember them. However, later he became especially famous as the head of the "new" party during the sensational dispute of the "ancient" and "new" in its time.
The essence of this dispute was this. In the 17th century, the opinion still prevailed that ancient writers, poets and scientists created the most perfect, most the best works. The "new", that is, Perrault's contemporaries, can only imitate the ancients, all the same they are not able to create anything better. The main thing for a poet, playwright, scientist is the desire to be like the ancients. Perrault's main opponent, the poet Nicolas Boileau, even wrote a treatise " poetic art", in which he established "laws" on how to write each work, so that everything was exactly like the ancient writers. It was against this that the desperate debater Charles Perrault began to object.
Why should we imitate the ancients? he wondered. Are modern authors: Corneille, Moliere, Cervantes worse? Why quote Aristotle in every scholarly writing? Is Galileo, Pascal, Copernicus below him? After all, Aristotle's views were outdated long ago, he did not know, for example, about blood circulation in humans and animals, did not know about the movement of the planets around the Sun.
“Why so respect the ancients?” Perrault wrote. “Only for antiquity? We ourselves are ancient, because in our time the world has become older, we have more experience.” About all this Perrault wrote a treatise "Comparison of ancient and modern". This caused a storm of indignation among those who believed that the authority of the Greeks and Romans was unshakable. It was then that Perrault was remembered that he was self-taught, they began to accuse him of criticizing the ancients only because he did not know them, did not read, did not know either Greek or Latin. This, however, was not at all the case.
To prove that his contemporaries are no worse, Perrault released a huge volume " Famous people France XVII century", here he collected more than a hundred biographies of famous scientists, poets, historians, surgeons, artists. He wanted people not to sigh - oh, the golden times of antiquity are gone - but, on the contrary, be proud of their age, their contemporaries. So Perrault would have remained in history only as the head of the "new" party, but ...
But then the year 1696 came, and the tale "Sleeping Beauty" appeared without a signature in the magazine "Gallant Mercury". And on next year in Paris and at the same time in The Hague, the capital of Holland, the book "Tales of Mother Goose" was published. The book was small, with simple pictures. And suddenly - an incredible success!
Charles Perrault, of course, did not invent fairy tales himself, he remembered some from childhood, others he learned during his life, because when he sat down for fairy tales, he was already 65 years old. But he not only wrote them down, but he himself turned out to be an excellent storyteller. Like a real storyteller, he made them terribly modern. If you want to know what fashion was in 1697, read Cinderella: the sisters, going to the ball, dress in the latest fashion. And the palace where Sleeping Beauty fell asleep. - according to the description exactly Versailles!
The language is the same - all people in fairy tales speak the way they would speak in life: the woodcutter and his wife, the parents of the Boy with a finger speak as simple people, and princesses, as befits princesses. Remember, Sleeping Beauty exclaims when she sees the prince who woke her up:
"Ah, is that you, prince? You kept yourself waiting!"
They are magical and realistic at the same time, these fairy tales. And their heroes act like quite living people. Puss in Boots is a real smart guy from the people, who, thanks to his own cunning and resourcefulness, not only suits the fate of his master, but also becomes an "important person" himself. "He doesn't catch mice anymore, except occasionally for fun." The boy with a finger also quite practically does not forget at the last moment to pull out a bag of gold from the Ogre's pocket, and thus saves his brothers and parents from starvation.

Perrault tells a fascinating story - from a fairy tale, from any, be it "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty" or "Little Red Riding Hood", it is impossible to tear yourself away until you finish reading or listening to the very end. Still, the action develops rapidly, all the time you want to know - what will happen next? Here Bluebeard demands his wife to be punished, the unfortunate woman shouts to her sister: "Anna, my sister Anna, can't you see anything?" The cruel, vengeful husband had already grabbed her by the hair, raised his terrible saber over her. "Ah," the sister exclaims, "these are our brothers. I'm giving them a sign to hurry!" Hurry, hurry, we worry. At the very last moment, everything ends well.
And so each fairy tale, none of them leaves the reader indifferent. This, perhaps, is the secret of the amazing tales of Perrault. After they appeared, numerous imitations began to appear, they were written by everyone, even secular ladies, but none of these books survived to this day. And "Tales of Mother Goose" live, they are translated into all languages ​​of the world, they are familiar in every corner of the earth.
In Russian, Perrault's fairy tales were first published in Moscow in 1768 under the title "Tales of Sorceresses with Morals", and they were titled like this: "The Tale of a Girl with a Little Red Riding Hood", "The Tale of a Man with a Blue Beard", "Fairy Tale about the father cat in spurs and boots", "The Tale of the Beauty Sleeping in the Forest" and so on. Then new translations appeared, they came out in 1805 and 1825. Soon Russian children, as well as their peers in others. countries, learned about the adventures of the Boy with a finger, Cinderella and Puss in Boots. And now there is no person in our country who would not have heard of Little Red Riding Hood or Sleeping Beauty.
Could the poet, academician, famous in his time, think that his name would be immortalized not by long poems, solemn odes and learned treatises, but by a thin book of fairy tales. Everything will be forgotten, and she will live for centuries. Because her characters have become friends of all children, the favorite characters of the wonderful fairy tales of Charles Perrault.

"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). It is interesting that Perrault did not publish his fairy tales under own name, but under the name of his 19-year-old son Perro d'Harmancourt, trying to protect his already established reputation from accusations of working with a "low" genre. The son of Perrault, who added to his surname the name of the Armancourt castle bought by his father, tried to get a job as a secretary to "Mademoiselle" (the king's niece, the Princess of Orleans), to whom the book was dedicated.
But to his misfortune, in a street fight, Pierre (a nobleman) stabbed the son of the widow of a carpenter (commoner) Guillaume Coll. And at that time, such a murder was considered an immoral act, and the young man ended up in prison. Thanks to his money and connections, Charles Perrault rescued his son from prison and bought him the rank of lieutenant in the king's regiment. At the front, in another battle, Pierre died.
But for Charles Perrault himself, the road to high society was closed. For writing fairy tales, scientists and colleagues (and Charles by this time was already a professor) lived him out of the world, and the nobility closed the doors of their houses in front of him.
Tired and harried, he curses the writing of fairy tales and dies in 1703. He takes the secret of writing fairy tales with him to the grave, and only 10 years after his death it was established that all the fairy tales known to us came from the pen of Father 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. The marvelous tales of 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 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, the 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, school biography Charles 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. 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 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”).

Literary activity Perrault 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-tuft"), 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 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 French, 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 creators. But nowhere in own biography Perrault did not mention in a word about the authorship of the phenomenal tales of Mother Goose, about 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 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 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.

(1628 - 1703) remains one of the world's most popular storytellers. "Puss in Boots", "Thumb Boy", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Cinderella" and other works of the author, included in the collection "Tales of Mother Goose", are well known to all of us since childhood. But few people know real story these works.

We have collected 5 interesting facts about them.

Fact #1

There are two editions of fairy tales: "children's" and "author's". If the first parents read to babies at night, then the second amazes even adults with its cruelty. So, no one comes to the rescue of Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, the prince's mother in Sleeping Beauty turns out to be a cannibal and orders the butler to kill her grandchildren, and the Boy with a Thumb tricks the Ogre to cut his daughters. If you have not read the author's version of fairy tales, then it is never too late to catch up. Believe me, it's worth it.

"Tom Thumb". Engraving by Gustave Doré

Fact #2

Not all "Tales of Mother Goose" were written by Charles Perrault. Only three stories from this collection are entirely his own - "Griselda", "Funny Desires" and "Donkey Skin" ("Donkey Skin"). The rest were composed by his son, Pierre. The father edited the texts, supplemented them with morals and helped to publish them. Until 1724, the tales of father and son were printed separately, but later the publishers combined them into one volume and attributed the authorship of all the stories to Perrault Sr.

Fact #3

Bluebeard had a real historical prototype. They became Gilles de Rais, a talented military leader and associate of Joan of Arc, who was executed in 1440 for practicing witchcraft and killing 34 children. Historians still argue that it was a political process or another episode of the "witch hunt". But everyone unanimously agrees on one thing - Ryo did not commit these crimes. Firstly, not a single material evidence of his guilt could be found. Secondly, contemporaries spoke of him exclusively as an honest, kind and very decent person. However, the Holy Inquisition did everything possible to make people remember him as a bloodthirsty maniac. No one knows exactly when the popular rumor turned Gilles de Ré from a murderer of children into a murderer of wives. But they began to call him Bluebeard long before the publication of Perrault's tales.

"Blue Beard". Engraving by Gustave Doré

Fact #4

The plots of Perrault's tales are not original. Stories of Sleeping Beauty, Thumbnail, Cinderella, Rick with a tuft and other characters are found both in European folklore and in literary works predecessors. First of all, in the books of Italian writers: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, Pleasant Nights by Giovanfrancesco Straparola and Tale of Tales (Pentameron) by Giambattista Basile. It was these three collections that had the greatest influence on the famous Tales of Mother Goose.

Fact #5

Perrault called the book "The Tales of Mother Goose" to annoy Nicolas Boileau. Mother Goose herself - the character of French folklore, the "queen with a goose foot" - is not in the collection. But the use of her name in the title became a kind of challenge to the literary opponents of the writer - Nicolas Boileau and other classicists, who believed that children should be brought up on high antique samples, and not on folk tales, which they considered unnecessary and even harmful to the younger generation. Thus, the publication of this book became important event as part of the famous "dispute about the ancient and the new".

"Puss in Boots". Engraving by Gustave Doré

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Biography, life story of Charles Perrault

The French storyteller Charles Perrault was born into the family of Pierre Perrault, a judge of the Paris Parliament, in 1628 on the 12th of January. The Charles family was very concerned about the education of children and the boy at the age of eight was sent to Beauvais College. Historian Philippe Aries notes that Perrault's school biography is a typical biography of an excellent student. Neither he nor his brothers (and it should be noted that Charles was the 7th child in the family) were never beaten with rods during their studies - at that time an exceptional case. However, Charles dropped out of college before finishing his studies.

After college, Perrault took private law lessons for three years and finally bought a lawyer's license.

At twenty-three, Charles returned to Paris and began a career as a lawyer, but soon left this occupation and got a job as a clerk to his brother Claude Perrault, a famous architect, author of the east facade of the Louvre. The literary activity of Charles Perrault began at a time when there was a fashion for fairy tales in high society. Listening to fairy tales has become one of the most common hobbies of secular society.

However, Perrault did not immediately decide to publish fairy tales under his own name, and the name of Perrault d'Harmancourt, his eighteen-year-old son, appeared on the first book of fairy tales published. Charles Perrault apparently feared that even with all the love of society for "fairy tales", writing fairy tales would be perceived as an extremely frivolous occupation, which, with its frivolity and playfulness, casts a shadow on the authority of a serious writer. But Charles by this time already enjoyed the confidence of Jean Colbert, who determined the policy of the court of Louis XIV in the field of arts. It was thanks to Colbert that Perrault was appointed in 1663 secretary of the Academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres. We call Charles Perrault now a storyteller, but he was known during his lifetime as a poet and publicist, as well as a dignitary and academician. When Colbert founded the Academy of France in 1666, Charles's brother Claude Perrault was among its first members. Charles Perrault, a few years later, was also admitted to the Academy and was entrusted with leading the work on compiling the "General Dictionary of the French Language".

CONTINUED BELOW

The life story of Charles Perrault is a public activity, deeply personal experiences, politics that mixed with literature, and, in fact, literature, divided into what subsequently glorified Perrault through the centuries, that is, his fairy tales, and what remained transient. Many fairy tales of Charles Perrault are based on famous folklore stories. He simply presented them with his inherent sparkling humor and talent, omitting some insignificant details and adding bright and new ones, ennobling the language of fairy tales. These fairy tales were most suitable for children, therefore Perrault is considered the founder of children's literature in the world and literary pedagogy.

The great merit of Charles Perrault lies precisely in the fact that the author chose only a few (albeit quite a lot) stories from the huge mass of folk tales and finally fixed their plots. Perrault gave them a climate, style and tone characteristic of the 17th century, but very personal.

After the death of Colbert, his patron, in 1683, Charles Perrault fell into disgrace at court and lost the pension paid to him from the royal treasury as a writer, and in 1695 he was also deprived of his position as secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belle Literature.

Few of our contemporaries know that Charles Perrault was a very venerable poet in France of his time, was an academician of the French Academy, and was the author of the most famous scientific papers. However, the recognition of descendants and worldwide fame they brought him not the thick and serious books of the academician, but wonderful children's fairy tales, such as "Puss in Boots", "Cinderella", "Bluebeard".