Making the Marvelous: Marie-Catherine D'Aulnoy and Henriette-Julie De Murat

At a time when France was becoming a leader in furniture and fashion, the fairy tales of Marie-Catherine D'Aulnoy and Henriette-Julie de Murat paid close attention to the rich detail of palaces, gardens, clothing and toys. Rori Bloom reads those descriptions closely to show how these writers, working in a genre often treated as minor, recorded and criticised the decorative arts of the period.

The book argues that the authors embraced the pretty and the playful as a reply to the charge that fairy tales were childish and feminine. In doing so they joined the work of artisans, the play of children and the lady's toilette into one picture of creativity. Their stories shift the stakes: rather than asking readers to marvel at magic that turns rags into riches, they ask them to recognise the skill that turns raw materials into beautiful objects.

Edition note: published by Univ of Nebraska Pr in 2022, 235 pages. ISBN-13 9781496222671. The book is part of the Early Modern Cultural Studies series.