French Fairy Tales
Greetings, Francophone and Francophile people of Antimoon! I want to ask you for some advice. I am a beginner at French and I seek to increase my knowledge of that language through reading. At first I wanted to get the French translation of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Andersen, but then I realized that there must be tons of fairy tales written by French authors. However, I don't know any and this is where I need your input! I am looking for something that does not have too much of archaic language and expressions, and something well-known that can be procured in an English-speaking country or on the Internet,
I thank whomever replies in advance.
The name you are looking for is: Charles Perrault.
From Wiki:
"Charles Perrault (January 12, 1628 – May 16, 1703) was a French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty), Le Chat botté (Puss in Boots), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard), Le Petit Poucet (Hop o' My Thumb), Les Fées (Diamonds and Toads), la patience de Grisélidis (Patient Griselda),Les Souhaits (The Ridiculous Wishes), Peau d'Âne (Donkeyskin) and Ricquet à la houppe (Ricky of the Tuft). Perrault's most famous stories are still in print today and have been made into operas, ballets ( e.g., Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty), plays, musicals, and films"
What about Jean de La Fontaine?
OïL, than you very much! Do you know whether they are written in modern French? Or the current editions are simply updated to meet the new language standards?
Perrault did not invent the stories but wrote them down. Perrault's tales were mostly adapted from earlier folk tales (for example by Giambattista Basile) in the milieu of stylish literary salons in the 1690s, as a diversion from the more strenuous energy expended in the Battle of the Ancients and Moderns or the struggles of Jansenism. For amusement, someone would take a simple traditional tale, such as an old peasant woman might tell in the kitchens, and remake into in a "moralized," succinct, witty story purged of all coarseness. The salon audience, whose favorite literature (such as The Princess of Cleves) was full of high-flown sentiment, could appreciate such well-turned, short sermons.