Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault (1628–1703) was a French author who reshaped familiar oral tales for a literary audience through elegant compression, social ambition and explicit morals. Cinderella links transformation and recognition to the dangers and rewards of courtly conduct. Puss in Boots makes wit, performance and deception the tools by which a poor young man changes rank. The Tales of Mother Goose places these concise stories within the collection most closely associated with Perrault's legacy. Perrault often closes a compact plot with a moral that comments on desire, rank and conduct, so the tale's apparent simplicity retains an ironic edge. The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault offers the broadest entry to the group. Cinderella suits readers interested in transformation and social codes; Puss in Boots shows Perrault's comic economy and morally ambiguous cleverness most clearly.