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| Sleeping Beauty, Soviet edition, illustrated by Eric Boulatov and Oleg Vassiliev |
When I was little, I was sick quiet a lot. One of my favorite things when I was laid up in bed with yet another bronchitis was when my mom sat next to me and read. And the books that I loved the most were large beautifully illustrated books of fairy tales by Charles Perrault and Hans Christina Anderson. I still remember the smell of it, my mom's voice when she was reading them, the wonderful colorful full-page illustrations (I have to ask my mom if she remembers those books). I'm also pretty sure that listing to my mom read these fairy tales, and reading them on my own when I got older, was when my love of paranormal romance started as well.
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| Charles Perrault |
The fairy tales of Charles Perrault are timeless and classic. Even those who don't readily know his name, know his stories - Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and so many more.
Charles Perrault was born in Paris, France, in 1628. He was the youngest of seven children. He attended good schools and afterwards studied law. Like his father and one of the brothers, he entered government service. He was heavily involved in the arts and science worlds of the time. After the end of his government career at the age of 67, he devoted himself to writing for children. His Tales of Mother Goose started the new genre of literature knows as 'fairy tales'.
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| Red Riding Hood, illustration by Gusave Dore (1883) |
Many of Perrault's stories were re-written by brothers Grimm and his work in this genre gave rise to other classic fairy tale authors, such as Hans Christian Anderson (another one of my absolute childhood favorites!)
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Cinderella by Gustave Dore
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What a great memory! I loved fairy tales as a kid. In fact, I still do. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, but please go through the opening paragraph and revise it.
ReplyDeleteAs I read this I am actually looking over at my bookshelf. There's a copy of Hans Christian Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales right in my line of sight. Great post- brings back some childhood memories :)
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Thanks! He's a great author and the play of his imagination are so powerful, his reference are intriguing, yet shows classical simplicity and beauty!
ReplyDelete