One of the most famous authors of fairy tales, which the world gave France, can undoubtedly be called Charles Perrault. He composed his own works, as well as transferred to the paper folk tales, passed from mouth to mouth. It is thanks to him that the world saw a lot of memorable, vivid and lively characters, with which many of us met in childhood.
The future storyteller had six brothers and sisters, of whom he was the youngest. It would be seven, but his twin brother died shortly after birth. One of his brothers, Claude Perrot, became a recognized architect. He even had a hand in creating the facade of the famous Louvre. At the age of 17, Charles Perrault went to university, but dropped out. Then he bought a lawyer’s license and worked for five years in this service.
It was he who initiated the genre of literature for children. “Tales of Mother Goose” became the first book in the world, published specifically for children. All children’s fairy tales by Charles Perrault are substantially edited, as their author’s versions are full of cruelty. The first editions of the Fairy Tale of Mother Goose were published under the pseudonym Pierre d’Armancourt, under which his son was hiding. The book was partially written by Charles Perrault himself, but this small trick allowed him to bring Pierre, his son, to the high society. “Tales of Mother Goose” were dedicated to the Princess of Orleans.
Creative role played a negative role – to Charles Perrault, who by that time was already a professor of science, began to be treated with disdain. Thus, he lost his “right of entry” to the high society. His son, Pierre Perrault, first went to prison for killing a man in a street fight. The writer managed, thanks to his connections and money, to pull him out from behind the bars, after which Pierre went to the army, where he soon died in one of the battles. In the last years of his life, Perrault repeatedly regretted that he began to compose fairy tales, since, according to him, they destroyed his life.
