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2012 Archive
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Author(s): Eulalia Kafari
Presentation: oral
Depictions of Empowerment: Female Aristocracy and Perrault’s Fairy Tales in Eighteenth Century Paris, by Eulalia Kafari. The purpose of my paper will be to examine the historical context of the collection of fairy tales entitled Tales of Mother Goose published by Charles Perrault in 1695. The paper will ask the question why a man of Perrault’s high social background took such a keen interest in the stories of peasants. Were aristocratic women his core audience, if so was he trying to appease to these women by writing stories with strong female characters in a very patriarchal French society? In order to evaluate the impact Perrault’s tales had on aristocratic culture within France is to conduct an exhaustive examination of several primary sources from this era. The main source being Le Mercure Galant, a French periodical that was widely read by aristocratic women, contains most of Perrault’s works and provides the necessary documents to understand the impact of the tales. Other important sources will be Perrault’s autobiography as well as copies of the original stories he published. Faculty Sponsors: Dr. Steve Maughan and Dr. Mee-Ae Kim
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