The Complete Fairy Tales

Charles Perrault
Christopher Betts

Oxford World's Classics

The only complete edition of all Perrault's tales both in prose and verse, in a translation by Christopher Betts
Perrault's fairy tales established the versions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding-Hood, and others that we know today, and also include the verse tales Griselda, Three Silly Wishes, and the notorious Donkey-Skin
The tales are accompanied by a fascinating introduction that explores the genesis of the stories and why they have such great imaginative power, their relationship to other versions, and the many interpretations to which they have been subject
Includes 26 stunning illustrations by Gustave Dore
Includes appendices on related tales and selected variants, bibliography, chronology, and notes

The Complete Fairy Tales

Charles Perrault
Christopher Betts

Description

"Oh grandmama, what great big teeth you have!"

Charles Perrault's versions gave classic status to the humble fairy tale, and it is in his telling that the stories of Little Red Riding-Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and the rest have been passed down from the seventeenth century to the present day. Perrault's tales were enjoyed in the salons of Louis XIV as much as they were loved in the nursery, and it is their wit, humor, and lively detail that capture the imagination of adult and child alike. They transmute into vivid fantasies the hidden fears and conflicts by which children are affected: fears of abandonment, or worse, conflicts with siblings and parents, and the trials of growing up.

In addition to the familiar stories, this edition also includes the three verse tales--the troubling account of patient Griselda, the comic Three Silly Wishes, and the notorious Donkey-Skin. This translation by Christopher Betts captures the tone and flavor of Perrault's world, and the delightful spirit of the originals.

The Complete Fairy Tales

Charles Perrault
Christopher Betts

Oxford World's Classics

The Complete Fairy Tales

Charles Perrault
Christopher Betts

Oxford World's Classics

Author Information

Christopher Betts was a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Warwick until retirement. He has translated Montesquieu's Persian Letters for Penguin, and Rousseau's Social Contract and Jean de La Fontaine's Selected Fables for Oxford World's Classics.

The Complete Fairy Tales

Charles Perrault
Christopher Betts

Oxford World's Classics

Reviews and Awards

"Betts gives the stories the sense of humour ... The Gustave Doré illustrations in the Oxford editions add to the baroque feel of the thing as well. These are fairy tales that are as much a pleasure to read now as they were to be told once upon a time ago." - Desperate Reader

"It is extraordinary to revisit stories so familiar from childhood and see within their bounds savagery, deceit and dire warnings about predators and even puberty. The hidden symbolism of Perrault's tales is explained in the erudite introduction by Christopher Betts, who has translated the 1697 edition, the only complete translation in both verse and prose. The fairy tale is a rite of passage. Read yours aloud, share it with a small or re-read these tales and wonder at the depth that Disney never did." - The Field

The Complete Fairy Tales

Charles Perrault
Christopher Betts

Oxford World's Classics

From Our Blog

Between terror and kitsch: fairies in fairy tales

This story may or may not be a fairy tale, though there are certainly fairies in it. However, unlike any of his Victorian forebears or most of his contemporaries, Machen manages to achieve, only a few years before the comfortably kitsch flower fairies of Cicely Mary Barker, the singular feat of rendering fairies terrifying. With James Hogg's 'Confessions of a Justified Sinner', Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Thrawn Janet' and several of M. R. James's marvellous ghost stories, 'The White People' is one of only a handful of literary texts that have genuinely unnerved me.

Posted on March 19, 2015

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