nPostednon January 12, 2015
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He’snlisted as the guy who wrote “Little Red Riding Hood.”
He’snlisted as the guy who wrote “Little Red Riding Hood.”n
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nAndnthe guy who sorta kinda invented modern fairy tales!
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nCharlesnPerrault, born in Paris, France, on this date in 1628, studied lawnand had a career in governmental service. He was the secretary of thenAcademy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres—and I gather that thisnwas sort of like being a department head, not a lowly post. n
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nHenworked under King Louis XIV, who is the Louis called “the Great”nand the king who made the lavish Palace of Versailles the seat ofnroyal power. One of the things Perrault suggested was including 39nfountains in the gardens of Versailles, with each fountainnrepresenting one of the fables of Aesop.
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WhennPerrault lost his post as secretary at age 67, he decided to dedicatenhimself to writing. At the time, “fairy stories” were all thenrage among the aristocrats of France. (And we’re talking about adultsnhere.) Perrault wrote Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times withnMorals, or Mother Goose Tales. Apparently, scholars
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nare not surenabout the origins of the stories; they may have been based on oralntraditions and ancient stories, or they may have been mostly originalnto Perrault. One thing is sure: many of the fairy tales we are mostnfamiliar with are based on Perrault’s telling.
WhennPerrault lost his post as secretary at age 67, he decided to dedicatenhimself to writing. At the time, “fairy stories” were all thenrage among the aristocrats of France. (And we’re talking about adultsnhere.) Perrault wrote Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times withnMorals, or Mother Goose Tales. Apparently, scholars n
nare not surenabout the origins of the stories; they may have been based on oralntraditions and ancient stories, or they may have been mostly originalnto Perrault. One thing is sure: many of the fairy tales we are mostnfamiliar with are based on Perrault’s telling.
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nWe’rentalking “The Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Red Riding Hood,”n“Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” “Cinderella,” “Diamondsnand Toads.”
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nHere’snan interesting fact: The stories were claimed to be the work ofnauthor Pierre Perrault Darmancour, Perrault’s son, who was 19 yearsnold at the time of publication. However, scholars say that there isnno evidence that the son wrote the stories or even collaborated onnthem; it seems clear that only the elder Perrault wrote the tales andnthen used them to introduce his son to society.
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nLater,nwhen the Grimm brothers were collecting what they called “traditionalnGerman” stories to be published as fairy tales, they includednPerrault’s stories as well…
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nEnjoy Perrault’s stories.
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nAlsonon this date:
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Educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s birthday
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Educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi’s birthday n
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nAuthor Jack London’s birthdayn
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nAuthor Jack London’s birthdayn
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nCelebratingnplatinum and lithium
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nCelebratingnplatinum and lithium
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nAnniversarynof first woman elected to U.S. Senate
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nAnniversarynof establishment of first public museum in U.S.
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nFebruaryn birthdays
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