#l'héritier

[postcard-from-the-past]

Château de L'Héritier in Murat, Auvergne region of France

French vintage postcard, mailed to Paris

[adarkrainbow]

I have recently assisted to a short presentation given at my university by none other than Tony Gheeraert, aka THE currenty expert on Perrault's fairytales and one of the great names of the current scholarly study of literary fairytales (in France). To give you an example, the scientific edition of Perrault's fairytales I own was made by him. And since the topic of his intervention fits something I was asked about before, and that many people here took an interest for, I decided to put some of my notes here.

Because Gheeraert's intervention took place as part of a seminary centered around one specific subject: "The Middle-Ages in the 17th century literature" (in France of course).

Long story short: the main and defining trait of the Renaissance, in popular culture, in widespread knowledge, as taught in schools, is its rejection of the Middle-Ages, right? Renaissance is all about rediscovering the Antiquity, imitating Ancient Greece, the worship of Ancient Rome - and breaking off from this ghastly Dark Ages with their filth and their ignorance and their dreadful Gothic architecture... Right?

Well... Not really. You see, this whole idea of "Middle-Ages VS The Renaissance" comes from a time period ranging from the Romantic era (where the Romantic "rediscovered" everything Gothic and medieval, and heralded it as the greatest muse of all times, and built at the same time the golden myth of the idolized feudal time and the dark legend of the barbaric ages) to the 19th century (which is where the Middle-Ages took shape in institutions, "built" by historians such as Michelet who really marked the rupture between the 15th century, obscure and ignorant, and the enlightened and more refined 16th century). As a result, there is this idea that the Middle-Ages were completely rejected and forgotten during the Renaissance, and that the first ones to truly love, embrace or take inspiration from this era were the Romantics.

The whole point of the seminary is to prove that this is actually false - and that the Renaissance was filled and imbued with medieval culture and interpretations (or re-interpretations) of the Middle-Ages. One of the main reasons the "medievalism of the classics" stayed in a blind spot of researchers (the very expression is an oxymoron since today "classicicm" and "medievalism" are considered conflicting opposites) is notably precisely because the "Middle-Ages" as we know them today were not invented yet. In the Renaissance culture and language the "Middle-Ages" did not exist... But it does not mean Renaissance folks did not had an understanding or an awareness of the Middle-Ages - as so many people claimed. The fact is that Renaissance was the era right next to the Middle-Ages: it was a direction continuation, and for Renaissance people medieval times were the "recent" past. There hadn't been any official decree or historical theory claiming the Middle-Ages were done or the Renaissance had truly began at X date. And so, there was a "medievalism" in the Renaissance, but one that wasn't "loud and clear" so to speak, unlike the Romantic medievalism.

But even with this fact acknowledged today, the idea that the Renaissance was "medieval" too has a hard time getting recognized. There was a mention of a very recent book published last year, "Le dictionnaire du Moyen-Âge imaginé" (The dictionnary of the imaginary Middle-Ages) - and it did mention that there was a strong medievalism during the 16th century, dawn of the Renaissance but also remaining lights of the medieval dusk... But then it claims that it all stopped by the 17th century, "Le Grand Siècle", all about Antiquity with no medieval thing whatsoever - only for the Middle-Ages to return by the mid 18th century.

And the seminary is all about proving that, no, there were medieval things in the 17th century French culture and literature, underneath the whole "praise and glory" of the Antiquity. Tony Gheeraert was invited to share his insight on fairytales - the iconic literary movement of the end of 17th century, and one of the most "medieval" cultural movements of the Renaissance France.

[Side-note: One of the main examples of the medievalism of the 16th century is the enormous success in France of the translation of the Spanish chivalry novel "Amadis de Gaula", in French "Amadis de Gaule" - you know, the best-seller that Cervantes wrote his Don Quixote as a reaction to. It was even called in France "La bible du roi", "The bible of the king", in reference to Henri IV's great love for this book.]

Of course, the 17th century did not have an exact, faithful or correct understanding of the Middle-Ages - but the interest here is to see how the century imagined and remagined this era, how they accused it of certain things, or attributed to it others ; how they twisted and reused medieval motifs for themselves, or how they created "false" Middle-Ages.

And so, what can a quick glimpse at these 17th century fairytales can tell us? Gheeraert focused on four authors part of the aristocratic circles and literary salons of the fairytales: Perrault, of course, because he is the most famous today and one of his three tales in verse, Griselidis, was inspired by Boccace's Decameron - a most medieval work. Madame d'Aulnoy, the one who started the entire trend and wave of literary fairytales. Mademoiselle Lhéritier (sometimes spelled L'Héritier), the niece of Perrault, who was a member of prestigious academies and had received numerous great literary prizes in her time (but who was erased by the sexist historians of literature) [Plus she also evoked in her writing the "style troubadour" centuries bfore it became an actual thing]. And finally Fénelon - who left some famous lines about his strong distaste and disgust at the Gothic architecture, but also wrote fairytales (published posthumously, originally written for his pedagogical work as the preceptor of the royal heir). Gheeraert also included in his study corpus Fraçois Nodot, who didn't write any fairytales but did wrote a "fairy novel" - Histoire de Mélusine, itself a 17th adaptation of a 14th century novel by Jean d'Arras.

Again I am simplifying and recaping things here: Tony Gheeraert, to shortly and simply prove that medievalism DID exist in 17th century fairytales, took all the major and important studies (French or Anglo-Saxon) that define medievalism, in the context of the Romantic movement for example, and extracted from it seven criteria. Seven main traits that sum up what "medievalism" is. And then applied them to the fairytales of the 17th century France.

Trait 1: Nostalgia for chivalry and knighthood (a la Walter Scott). A passion for knight-like heroism with a code of honor and loyalty, the courtly behavior of the old knighthood...

Yes, we find this in fairytales. After all, the French fairytales are THE archetype of the knight in shining armor saving a damsel in distress from a dragon. However, beyond this, Tony Gheeraert pointed out something truly fascinating: the fairytales of the time were aimed at an audience composed of people part of, or close with, a nobility in decline. Louis XIV had entrusted most of the political power to the bourgeoisie, while the original nobility beware a powerless "ornament" at the court, only here to look pretty. As Raymonde Robert pointed out in her extremely informative book about the French literary fairytales, the nobility of the time used of a form of "escapism" with these tales of idealized knights and princesses. An example would be madame d'Aulnoy's fairytale "La Princesse Belle-Etoile et le Prince Chéri" (Princesse Beautiful-Star and Prince Darling): it depicts three brothers and their sister, who discover that they are actually cousins, and princes and princesses, they are all brave and generous ; and the titular Prince Darling embodies all the knightly virtues (he is loyal, courageous, devoted). He undergoes typical "knight-trials" and in the end the courtly love wins as he gets to marry Princess Beautiful-Star... Who is his cousin, yes, that was regularly kingly things.

Trait 2: A reaction against the rationality of the Enlightenment (a la Radcliff, Lewis, Grimm or Keats) - a love of ghosts and curses and the supernatural...

Jean-Paul Sermain, in his own studies of fairytales, called the end of the 17th century a "post-critic" era. A time when "naivity" and "naive" things were asked for, revendicated and proudly presented, as the triumph of rationalism. A rationalism that might have even been perceived as "drying out" reality - for example, we have to remember that great rationalist minds such as Descartes or Malebranche were very hostile towards literature as a whole. Jean-Paul Sermain refers to these fairytales as "metafictions" and compares Perrault's stories to those of Walpole - fairytales delight in "putting to sleep the reason of the Classics", and while it tells of the supernatural, it is with a distance - just like how the Gothics wrote about ghosts and demons without believing in them, Perrault wrote about fairies without believing in them.

Trait 3: A taste for Gothic architecture, or for the neo-Gothic (a la Horace Walpole, or like Victor Hugo's Notre-Dame-de-Paris). As I said before, Fénelon is remembered for his strong dislike of Gothic architecture, that he saw as bad and imperfect due to its grotesque extravagances, its excess of ornaments - he much preferred the simple, "natural", perfectly-balanced Greco-Roman architecture. However, when the first editions of Perrault's "Stories or Tales of the Past" were published, the illustrations invoked a clearly medieval architecture - such as Bluebeard's domain, which is depicted as a medieval castle. In fact, there is a very amusing fact when one reads Perrault's Bluebeard (I already evoked it on my blog before): when the story begins, Bluebeard's house is presented as a typical wealthy countryside house of the times of Louis XIV, but when the story reaches its nightmarish climax, the various descriptions and location hints prove that Bluebeard's house is suddenly a typical "creepy Gothic castle" - such as how sister Anne is located at the top of a CASTLE TOWER. Speaking of towers - we cannot list all of the fairytales involving a princess locked up in a tower, nor can we list all the references to a "castle" (château) rather than a palace "palais". Madame d'Aulnoy could be the most revealing of those authors - ranging from her famous story "The Blue Bird" about a princess locked at the top of a medieval tower, to "The Gold Branch" about protagonists locked in another old castle-tower filled with stained glass and medieval illustrated scrolls. We know that madame d'Aulnoy had a great knowledge and passion for everything that touched to paleography: she liked to collect old medieval manuscripts, and had an habit when younger of "customizing" her books and journals so that they looked like medieval tomes and grimoires.

Which makes us jump to... Trait 4: A taste for erudition and old manuscripts (a la Francisque Michel).

As I said before, we know that madame d'Aulnoy had this knowledge, experience and passion of medieval manuscrits - a very revealing trivia is how at thirteen years old she wrote on the entry pages of the books that belonged to her all sorts of occult warnings and curses for anyone that would dare steal or degrade the volume - proving her interest for old grimoires, dark magic and a certain "mystification", the invention of "fake medieval manuscripts". Because what made a teenage madame d'Aulnoy dream was the same thing that made Gothic authors dream: dark, obscure, Gothic Middle-Ages filled with supernatural, and threats, and curses - Tony Gheeraert even made the joke that she was not so much interested in the Middle-Ages than by "medieval fantasy". Even though, as she grew up, she gained a true knowledge of the actual medieval era. For example, Nadine Jasmin, in her study of maame d'Aulnoy's fairytales, found out that the fairytale "The Pigeon and the Dove" was actually a rewrite of a medieval novel called "Floire et Blancheflor", with explicit references to this medieval tale in d'Aulnoy's text. We also know that she and Perrault both were aware of the existence of the Arthurian novel "Perceforest", from which they took the idea of "inviting fairies at a meal after the birth of a child".

Trait 5: An interest for medieval Christianity (such as Montalembert's Les Moines d'Occident). The Romantics loved to see the Middle-Ages as a time of intense faith, but what about the fairytale authors? Well, as you might know by now (because I evoked it several times on my blog), the writing of the fairytales took place in a literary and cultural feud that shook the 17th century: the Moderns vs the Ancients. The dominating artistic model was the Ancients - the belief that Antiquity had been the peak and golden age of art, and that as such all modern productions had to imitate and recreate what the Greco-Romans did. Perrault was the unofficial head of the Modern movement (to which almost all of the other fairytale authors belonged) - artists claiming that one could invent new things instead of just repeating old models, and that there were other valid sources of inspiration for art, beyond Ancient Greece or the Roman Empire. Fairytales were part of this feud - one of the "Modern" genres, proving that you could write interesting stories by using local folklore and medieval sources rather than the Greco-Roman myths.

And of course, this feud extended to the religious domain. The Ancients defended the idea that you could only make art using elements not part of the "one true religion" (Christianity) - as such this is why they insisted on using the religions of the Greek and the Romans, "false" and "dead" religions. However, in return the Moderns accused them of perpetuating paganism, and one of their main effort was to prove that you could do things such as Christianity-inspired epics. (Which in turn led to accusations of blasphemy, overall this was a circle without end). While not overtly Christian, the literary fairytales of the time did have Christian elements psrinkled here and there clearly showing the tales' belonging to the Modern movement - such as how the fairies of Sleeping Beauty are invited to the princess' christening ; or how Bluebeard's wife demands to be able to pray one last time before dying. This was in direct opposition to the "ornamental paganism" that was asked by the unofficial leader of the Ancients - Boileau, Perrault's archnemesis. Overall, as Tony Gheeraert pointed out, in a twist compared to modern days, the Moderns formed a "counter-culture" to the mainstream model of the Ancients... A national and Christian counter-culture, prefiguring the Romantic medievalism. Yep, Perrault and co were "rebels" for writing about purely French stuff and openly Christian things.

Trait 6: An interest for folklore (a la Achille Millien, and the widespread tradton of collecting folk-tales, oral literature and folk-art). Now, this trait is... more complex than the others. The Romantics collected and published folklore and folktales - the brothers Grimm are the most famous example of this practice, and in fact today we like to oppose Perrault, an elitist and courtly author who wrote and invented fairytales, to the Grimm, who collected "authentic" folktales directly from the lower class. But... are Perrault and Grimm so different?

The topic of folklore in French literary fairytales has been wiely discussed and debated - first by Marc Soriano, then by Marc Fumaroli. However, when it comes to the angle of medievalism, of the fantasy and phantasm of the Middle-Ages rather than a real influence, the answer is definitively - yes, medieval folklore did play an important part. Take Mademoiselle Lhéritier - when she wrote and published her fairytales, she openly described them as "folktales" that were originally created by medieval literature. In her "Oeuvres mêlées" (her first collection of fairytales), she wrote that, the stories she published were originally the inventions of troubadours, medieval novels that then were passed through the people, became popular culture and folktales - in short, the fairytales she writes in her book are "degraded" versions of medieval literary works. This was her main thesis - and in this theory the people, the "folk" of folktale, was both topraise and blame. To praise for keeping and allowing the survival of these medieval works, to blame for "degrading" and "soiling" this great literature into vulgar and dirty stories. Now, that being said, we know today that, historically speaking, this is an entirely false and absurd belief - but for mademoiselle L'Héritier, it was actually a very plausible and likely theory. Because of one precise phenomenon, most embodied by La Bibliothèque Bleue (The Blue Library) - a famous brand of cheap books sold by peddlers all across France. The Blue Library, like all peddlers-sold literature, were cheap products for a low and poor clientele, uneducated if not illiterate - as a result, what these books did was usually take back a literary work or a famous story of the Middle-Ages, and reprint it in a simplified, heavily-edited or degraded/misunderstood way. If such a big degradation could happen to the most famous novels, it was plausible to understand that folktales of the countryside were just similarly degraded medieval novels we lost the originals of.

Back in the 17th century everybody, no matter the social class, knew of Huon de Bordeaux or the story of Mélusine. They might have been badly edited or misprinted - they were still everywhere. The best-sellers of the time were not "La Princesse de Clèves", "La Clélie" or "L'Astrée" - despite those works being today emblematic of 17th century literature. No, the best-sellers were Huon de Bordeaux, L'Histoire de Mélusine, Renaud de Montauban... When Perrault wanted to mock Boileau, he pointed out in his "Apology of women" that Boileau's work will never reach the same sales as the books of the Blue Library - medieval literature was literaly flooding the masses. The Antique and humanist culture of the time was limited, and for a scholarly audience - medieval literature was massive, but was more of the counter-culture of the Classical age, that had been ignored and made invisible precisely because it was "popular" in the first sense of the term - for the "people". But this was a memory of the Middle-Ages that was perpetuated among the people - especially through women, according to Perrault, women that made themselves the guardians of an old national memory they "passed on". And this was the entire propaganda of the Moderns: they wanted to defend and rehabilitate a national past, a medieval literature, that had survived through the memory of the people and "folk-culture".

As I said before we know today that mademoiselle Lhéritier's theory of fairytales being an immensely valued cultural treasure degraded by mass-publishing and a spreading among the lower classes is false. BUT it gives us a wonderful insight into how people IMAGINED the Middle-Ages at the time. Notably, we know that the "courtly literature" of the Middle-Ages was treated with utmost respect - the art of the troubadour was compared with the elegant and galant literature of the 17th century ; Moderns perceived the literature of the Middle-Ages as a great one. And this is how they wanted their own work to be perceived by the audience of their time: they wanted to have their fairytales received as "re-established medieval texts", as "medieval literature restored into its original purity". And as I said before - when mademoiselle L'Héritier described her own fairytale project, she literaly wrote of "le style troubadour", LONG before this term an actual artistic movement.

We know that mademoiselle L'Héritier influenced the wwriting of her uncle, and within Perrault's fairytales we find a similar process of "restoraton": take Griselidis. Griselidis originally comes from Boccace - and Perrault wants to give back to this story the "shine" and the "light" surrounding it, so that people could read it like Boccace's audience had originally read it. But why does Perrault feel a need to "re-shine" Griselidis? Because Griselidis was reprinted, and re-edited, and massively spread in an altered form by the Blue Library. Perrault wanted, by his rewrite, to restore the original medieval work - the short story of Boccace. It was the closest thing we had to medieval research at the time. And when Perrault pre-published his prose tales in Le Mercure Galant, he explicitely described what allowed them to go through the Middle-Ages and reach modern audience : a "millenial, feminine, national and clandestine tradition".

Perrault and his friends did the same thing the Romantics could later do: put at the heart of a counter-culture folktales, against the universitarian, academical "freeze" of the Ancients, while also pushing forward national and Christian works. Now, that being said, we now know that Perrault's medieval claims just like mademoiselle Lhéritier's so-called "troubadour style" are but artificial inventions, literary tricks, false applications. Constance Cagnat for example proved that the fairytales of Charles Perrault and madame d'Aulnoy were actually literary games playing and interacting with other French authors (such as La Fontaine and his fables), and that these stories were mostly built up using common sayings and various puns, twisting wordplays and cleverly highlighting proverbs that the aristocratic readers of the time would understand. When Perrault claims to have collected his fairytales from old grandmothers and nurses, he blatantly lies - because Lhéritier and Perrault are not about preserving the Middle-Ages, but reinventing and reshaping it. Just like how Viollet-le-Duc completely redid cathedrals by claiming he was giving them back their "original" style when his choices were clearly more personal and imaginative. It can also be compare to the creation of the Ossianic poems - we are quite close here to what Perrault or L'Héritier did.

Now, as you all might know, there is a traditional opposition of Perrault, this old royal secretary falsifying fairytales into the stuffy and censoring world of the court... And the Grimm brothers, who supposedly managed to preserve the "genie of the German people" and transcribed "faithfully" German folktales... Cough cough. The truth is more complex than that - one of the main sources of the Grimm was a woman named Dorothez Viehmann, who was a German woman yes... But of French descent. The Viehmann family were direct descendants of the Protestants that fled France during religious persecutions... And the other main source of the Grimm, the daughters of the Hassenpflug family, also had some ties to the French Protestants that settled in Germany... Long story short - after the Grimm brothers composed and published their first edition of their "German folktales", they realized that... they had several Perrault fairytales in there. By going on a quest to find back German folktales they discovered... French fairytales. Oh the irony! They had for example a German version of Puss in Boots, and an altered version of madame d'Aulnoy's "The Orange-Tree and the Bee", and various takes on Perrault's Bluebeard - which all promptly got removed from further editions of their märchen collection. They only kept French-related stories that felt "different" enough and more "German" - hence their alternate versions of Perrault's Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. But even beyond that, the brothers Grimm weren't as honest as they liked to pretend - because they heavily edited their fairytales to fit their own morals and "unify" their material in a true literary effort. For example, they made a great effort to systematically give "happy endings" to their stories (see how in their Little Red-Cap the little girl is saved), and they also systematically changed all evil mothers into evil stepmothers (Snow-White's evil queen or the bad wife of the woodsman in Hansel and Gretel were originally their victim's mother, not stepmother). Tony Gheeraert evoked how "The Twelve Brothers" changed so much between its collected version and the final rewrite of the Grimm you hardly recognize the story - even though personaly I haven't studied this fairytale's evolution so I cannot say. Utte Heidmann even described the Grimm fairytales as "window-dressing". So, looking at the prefaces Grimm wrote allows us to understand the gap between their openly claimed and declared intentions, and their actual "falsifications" or rather "artificialization" of fairytales. Ultimately... The Grimms "cheat" with their fairytales, just like Perrault or L'Héritier did. IT IS ALL THE SAME FOLKS, IT IS THE NEW FAIRYTALE ORDER!

(Sorry for the little joke, back to serious stuff)

Fun fact: Something people tend to ignore (myself I did not know that), due to the Grimm systematically erasing from their work all French fairytales, is that the brothers actually ADMIRED Perrault. They adored him - but they hated all the female fairytales writers. In their eyes, people like madame d'Aulnoy or mademoiselle L'Héritier were bascally "imitations of Perrault, but with less talent".

Finally, we reach trait 7: An idealization of the past, coupled with a criticism of the present (a la William Morris)

Is this medievalism we saw until now ALWAYS an idealization of the past? Well things are a bit more ambiguous: Victor Hugo clearly idealized the Middle-Ages, whereas Michelet was much more negative towards this era. And this same ambiguity can be found in French literary fairytales - whose authors have a very complex relationship between the past, and their century of very fast modernization and of all sorts of new techniques. Because yes, the 17th century was a time of great inventions and great revolutions in all sorts of domains: sciences, politics, commerce, engineering... The 17th century was truly a time of aggressive industrialization and massive social changes - almost a prototype of the Industrial revolution, with the same enthusiasm and the same worries manifested inside fairytales. Of the authors of the time, men of letters such as Fénelon or La Bruyère expressed a regret of the past which was "stable" and "sober" and "simple" - Fénelon's fairytales have a strong nostalgia, they are turned towards the past, you have this idealiation of for example the little self-dependant farmer who gets everything from his land and needs nothing else ; which is in complete opposition to the present where businessmen are becoming the new wealth, with the creation and development of the famous "manufactures" of France, the ancestors of factories. Fénelon and La Bruyère considered this materialistic evolution to be happening much too fast, and predicted only disasters for it. But other fairytale authors rather glorified the present times - there was a rejoicing of how society had evolved, of how progress gave access to new luxuries. Madame d'Aulnoy kept evoking in her fairytales all the recent culinary and gastronomical inventions of her time in very positive terms. So we got this enjoyment of the present, mixed with worries of what said present might cause... And this results in tensions towards the past - or more precisely, in a muddling of what the "past times" are supposed to be. People are understanding that society is moving extremely fast, and that they are entering something never seen before - but as a result they find their work and tales "invaded" by their modern life. People did not see why one who wants to write about the Middle-Ages should remove everything about the Classic era - for them it wasn't a contradiction, they didn't care much about anachronism, which results in this confused and unclear past. The past of the fairytales does then fit with what medievalism was truly about - because medievalism, as a fantasy of the Middle-Ages, ended up evolving beyond a "faithful research and reproduction of the medieval times", and became... well, basically "a set of times and places seen as the "before" or as the "elsewhere" of the current situation." And thus, we can compare that to the ambiguous "past times" of stories such as Perrault's (Histoires ou contes du temps passé, literaly Histories or tales of the times gone"). The fairytales of Perrault are clearly taking place during the Renaissance, in terms of social hierarchy, political power, everyday items... And yet you have so many medieval elements that blur the timeline - you have woodsmen, and mills, and millers... We could even push forward this thought by wondering if the Moderns, by purposefully accumulating falsehood and misunderstandings and confusion of stereotypes, weren't trying to mock or parody the historical chronologies of all the snobs and insufferable "know-it-all" of the time (aka, the Ancients).

What was Gheeraert's conclusion?

Yes, there is a "classical medievalism" that did exist in fairytales. It was mostly the expression of a nostalgia for a more-or-less mythical aristocracy, a time when nobility had real power, and when knights were courtly and chivalrous. There is a medievalism all throughout the 17th century, from the helmet-wearing knights of L'Astrée to the tournaments organized in La princesse de Clèves. In fairytales, medievalism was a NEEDED ingredient, needed to go beyond the primal conflict between the popular, folkloric origins and the Antique literary sources, rewriten or crypted. The "culture of the Middle-Ages" did exist in fairytales, but as an "imaginative appropriation" mixing together in one big soup Boccace and Perceforest, with a dash of Marie de France, and several contemporary sources - until it became unclear what came from where. People did not care for how much of each story was taken from each work - they only cared about the effect produced, about the result. And the result was that fairytales were written to give the illusion of a medieval text, fitting how people imagined the Middle-Ages as a courtly and chivalrous time all about the love-adventures of knights and princesses. Take Perrault's Sleeping Beauty: it is the perfect balance using as much folkloric as literary material. A rewrite of an actual medieval work, the Perceforest, but remade so as to give it back a "style of the past time" - aka rewriting a medieval work to make it look... more medieval. Today we like to denounce Perrault and co. as being falsificators, liars, cheaters inventing stuff out of nowhere... But that's because our vision of the Middle-Ages, and literature, and cultural evolution changed - but for the people of the time, it was all honest rewrites or serious pastiches. And here is where the misunderstanding lies: unlike us, who, to "restore" a lost work go dig for the "original" version or context, the people of the 17th century, in their quest to restore the forgotten and lost works of the past, were ready to reject what the past actually was, as long they could establish a strong and solid continuity. Mademoiselle L'Héritier truly believed herself faithful to the medieval texts by transcribing those "medieval" stories into her courtly and aristocratic culture. Today we might laugh, "Troubadours didn't speak like the précieuses!". But at the time, there was a strong belief that the courteousness and gallantry of the Renaissance was actually a return, a resurrection, of the old practices and ancient sociability of the past. For mademoiselle L'Héritier, the golden age of courteousness was... the golden age of the troubadours. As a result, for all those authors, "appropriation" did not rhyme with "unfaithful".

But all this talk of "medievalism" in the Classic era, and the deep ideological extent of the "gallant" literature, are only recent rediscoveries - for example this all was nowhere to be seen when Marc Soriano wrote about fairytales.

A final note for this extensive recap, which was also evoked and discussed during Gheeraert's intervention but had been repeated several times across the seminary - you think the nobles and the low-folks were part of two different worlds? Well think again! As it turns out, in the 17th century, artistocrats and peasants were far closer than you would believe... united by a same culture. Medieval culture. You see, the top and the bottom of the social hierarchy were both part of those people to whom nobody ever said "Middle-Ages are over, time to go to the next era!". The lower class' lifestyle hadn't much changed, and they preserved all sorts of medieval tales and legends through either oral folktales or through the best-sellers of the peddling literature (Blue Library). Meanwhile, the nobility and the high aristocracy was in decline, as Louis XIV was slowly creating absolutism and putting in place the dreaded bureaucracy that rules everything today - and so, as we said, they lost themselves in the nostalgia of their golden age (the Middle-Ages), and glorified the knightly feats of their ancestors, they kept dreaming of themselves as knights competing in tournaments. They didn't regret so much the Middle-Ages per se (they greatly enjoyed the new mercantilism of their time), but they did regret the medieval social position of the nobility. And so this medieval culture survived and stayed strong among those two social extremes, and brought them together - yes, as it turns out nobles and common folks were quite close, especially in the countryside, where you had your local lord and his peasants, and they directly interacted and co-existed. This "cultural union" appears in the duality of the medievalist works of the time: gallant novels of the time filled with knightly elements (such as L'Astrée) vs the badly but massively reprinted medieval Arthurian novels of the Blue Library ; the folktales of the countryside told by old grannies by the fireside vs the salon literary fairytales. Two sides of the same coin - a same appreciation and knowledge of the Middle-Ages, not so much ACTUALLY known, but rather dreamed an fantasized in a similar way...

The REAL cultural divide, the REAL social fracture, actually came from the "third" group, the newcomers of the Renaissance... The bourgeois. The bourgeoisie did not share the ideals and concepts of the nobility ; but they also rejected the culture of peasants and common folks to better split apart from their "low" roots. To be confused with a mere peasant was a bourgeois' worst nightmare! As a result, being at odd with the two "medieval" poles of the cultural-social hierarchy, the bourgeois, the bureaucrat, the "noblesse de robe" and other nouveau riches imposed their own, new, unique culture: a Latinized culture, a culture all about the Greco-Roman, lture of universities such as la Sorbonne, a culture of recent scientific discoveries and new technological inventions.

The aristocrats did not reject the lower-class' culture - they had an interest and passion for it... But they needed to "clean it up" and remove the "folk-filth" and "common crass" before fully embracing the lost pearls in the muck. But the bourgeois? Full rejection of this "popular culture".

And in fact, this is also why this whole medieval survivance during the 17th century was ignored by most historical, literary and cultural authorities up to this day. The Middle-Ages did survive during the "Great Century"... But as popular culture, and as we unfortunately know, for a very long time "pop culture" was thought as undeserving of any real study or attention.

[lookcaitlin]

[artsayz-op]

Survival

C'est mon premier livre

Survival : l'héritier du chaos !

on suit les aventures du jeune Joshua Reuss qui pour se venger de son licenciement abusif mettra les pied dans une affaire très lourde menaçant toute vie sur terre. C'est histoire entre Matrix et Star Wars mêlant science-fiction, fantastique et horreur était destiné pour être un film que j'ai transposer en roman. Si vous voulez la lire : www.kiffelire/Survival: l'héritier du chaos.com

This is my first book

Survival : the heir to chaos

we follow the adventures of young Joshua Reiss who in revenge for his wrongful dismissal, will set foot in a very heavy affair threatening all life on earth. This is a story between Matrix ans Star War mixing science fiction, fantasy and horror was intended to be a film that i changed into a novel, if you want to read it : www.kiffelire/Survival: l'héritier du chaos.com

[thebotanicalarcade]

n522_w1150 by Biodiversity Heritage Library Via Flickr: Revue horticole.. Paris :Librairie agricole de la maison rustique,1829-1974.. biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49661664

[livresderomance]

Anne Claude est une conseillère en placement très doué vivant au Luxembourg. Khan est un trafiquant d'armes qui voudrait bien en faire sa maitresse, car il n'a jamais oublié cet été très chaud de ses vingt-quatre ans qu'il avait passé au Luxembourg en compagnie de la séduisante femme à la chevelure rousse et aux formes très riches et voluptueuses.

Mais Anne Claude possède un secret qu'elle se refuse à lui révéler et qui l'empêche de se donner à lui... Cependant, quand la vie de son fils est en jeu, elle n'a d'autre choix que de s'en remettre au père de l'enfant pour le sauver, même si elle aurait bien voulu continuer à lui cacher son existence... Ses deux parents sauront-ils mettre de côté leurs griefs afin de mettre le jeune Yanis au centre de leurs priorités ?

Lire le livre complet ici.

L'héritier de Khan Chapitre 1

Anne-Claude

— Anne-Claude! Ton rendez-vous de quatre heures est arrivé... signale la secrétaire dans le téléphone.

Je la remercie et raccroche le combiné. Je me presse ensuite de retirer plusieurs portraits à la droite de mon écran d’ordinateur sur mon bureau et de les ranger dans un des tiroirs. Je me lève ensuite et je lisse mon tailleur, je jette un œil à mon reflet dans la baie vitrée de mon cubicule. Ma tignasse rousse est parfois trop rebelle.

Enfin, je prends une profonde inspiration avant de franchir la séparation entre mon espace de travail et celui des autres dans la grande banque. Je traverse la vaste aire ouverte et je me dirige vers la salle d’attente. Je peux déjà l’apercevoir, grand et costaud, blond et les yeux bleus, sa barbe courte soigneusement rasée tout comme sa chemise propre, son gilet en cuir et ses pantalons à bretelle…

Il a comme toujours de la prestance, de la noblesse.

Je vais accueillir le chef d'entreprise Islandais. Enfin, c’est ce qu’il prétend être comme toujours...

— Monsieur Drakniss!

Il se lève de sa place avec élégance, ne me quittant pas du regard. Un regard charismatique.

— Mam’zelle Eckhart! Toujours aussi séduisante!

Je lui rétorque de manière sarcastique, prenant cette main tendue:

— Monsieur Drakniss... toujours aussi irrévérencieux!

Il sourit de manière tout à fait arrogante tandis qu’il me serre la main avec une légère pression, son pouce sous mon poignet, comme pour assurer sa dominance sur moi tout en me témoignant de la tendresse. C’est son petit rituel... Chaque fois, ça ne rate pas de faire son petit effet sur moi. Mon tailleur me parait soudain trop serré, la température a grimpé de quelques degrés et un frisson me parcourt l’échine.

Je combats cette émotion pour conserver un calme apparent quand je l’invite à me suivre dans mon bureau.

Son homme de main sur sa droite demeure assis comme toujours, jouant à un jeu stupide sur son cellulaire en patientant après son boss.

Khan Drakniss en profite toujours pour me draguer lors de notre rendez-vous bisannuel... Moi, je demeure très polie avec lui, mais je n'entre pas dans son jeu. Je me contente de lui donner les résultats de ses derniers placements en bourse, de lui conseiller quelques investissements. Comme toujours, il aura de l’argent liquide, beaucoup d’argents liquides, qu’il désire transférer dans un autre compte offshore, d’une de nos succursales qui se situe dans les iles Caïmans.

Comme toujours bien sûr, je ne poserai aucune question parce que notre banque du Luxembourg se spécialise dans ce genre de transactions, pour ce genre de client... et jamais au grand jamais je ne chercherais à savoir ce que vend monsieur Drakniss, autre que des spiritueux et des bières de microbrasserie, entreprise qui doit lui servir de couverture à des activités bien plus louches.

Je suis suffisamment bien payée pour fermer les yeux devant des clients comme cet Islandais et je suis également suffisamment bien payée pour supporter qu’il me drague à chacune de ses visites.

Cette fois, le trafiquant de je-sais-quoi me demande une autre carte Amex Black pour son cousin qui a perdu celle qu'il lui avait remise la dernière fois. Il désire aussi en avoir une autre, toujours reliée au même compte, cette fois pour sa sœur Emma, qui s'en va étudier à Oxford... Tout comme lui. Eh! Il en est très fier.

Je suis tout de même un peu surprise qu’il ait une sœur, car il ne l’a jamais mentionné auparavant.

Pendant que j’entre les informations de la nouvelle carte, il remarque alors le dessin d'un enfant épinglé sur mon babillard. Mon cœur cesse de battre une fraction de seconde. J’avais complètement oublié ce dessin! Je m'efforce de ne pas montrer mon trouble quand je lui prétexte que c’est mon neveu qui l’a fait.

Rapidement, j’attire son attention sur le lecteur que je viens de placer devant lui pour qu'il entre un code pour la nouvelle carte, celle de sa jeune sœur... et monsieur Drakniss me demande de le faire à sa place. Cette carte pourrait même être la mienne si j’acceptais de le suivre dans sa chambre d'hôtel...

Je n'aurais plus jamais à travailler, car il m'entretiendrait... J’aurais un superbe penthouse et je pourrais réaliser mon ancien rêve. Il pointe une des petites ses sculptures de bronze représentant des dragons sur une étagère. Je serais enfin reconnue pour mon talent. Il serait mon mécène et nous pourrions…

Je lui jette un regard empli de froideur. Je lui demande quel est l'anniversaire de naissance de sa sœur et je m'en sers pour le code de la nouvelle carte Black Amex.

— Je t’ai insulté. constate le bel homme. Ce n'était pas mon but... Ace... Ça cliquait déjà entre nous dans cet hôtel…

Ace... C’était le surnom qu’il m’avait donné. À cause des initiales de mon nom : Anne-Claude Eckhart. Et moi, je l’appelais Key à cause du «K» de son prénom, que je croyais être Kevin à l’époque! Des images de moi, de lui, enlacés dans le lit de cette suite luxueuse qu’il occupait me viennent à l’esprit. Des images que je chasse férocement.

Il poursuit son baratin :

— Il y a dix ans, dans cet hôtel où on s’était croisé, nous avions eu bien du plaisir! Ces vacances sont parmi mes plus mémorables ACE! Ça tient du miracle, si huit ans plus tard on s’est de nouveau croisés dans cette banque…

— Oui! Surtout que vous m’aviez donné un faux nom, à Marseille!

Il persiste comme toujours à me tutoyer alors que moi je cherche à mettre une distance entre nous:

— Tu m’en veux toujours? Après tout ce temps? Ace! Je crois bien t’avoir prouvé que je n’ai plus l’intention de disparaitre! Ça fait deux ans que je viens dans cette banque… Je suis sûr que je suis ton client le plus fidèle... et ton plus fervent admirateur!

—… et surtout le plus collant!

— Allez quoi! Ace! Tout c’que j’désire, c’est une chance… Je t’apprécie et je sais que c’est réciproque… On pourrait s’faire beaucoup de biens tous les deux!

— Oui hein! Vous m’appréciez, dites-vous! Mais pas suffisamment pour faire de moi autre chose qu'une maitresse! Vous en avez combien des maitresses, monsieur Drakniss? Une dans chaque ville que vous visitez?

Il hausse les épaules. Il n'y a rien de mal à ça... Si l'entente est profitable pour tous les partis en cause... ose-t-il même me dire, me faisant un clin d'œil coquin.

Je termine en vitesse de faire le tour de son portefeuille d’investissement avec lui, et je le reconduis jusqu'à la sortie, un sourire plastique sur le visage. Son homme de main, un grand type à la Arnold Schwarzenegger, au crâne rasé, quitte la salle d’attente et lui emboite le pas automatiquement...

Comme je lui serre une dernière fois la main, devant les grandes portes vitrées de la sortie principale, mon cellulaire se met à vibrer dans la poche de la veste de mon tailleur. Je regarde vitement. C’est un message de ma voisine qui me dit qu’elle et Yanis sont au parc et que mon fils s’exerce à arrêter les balles dans le filet du terrain de soccer.

Devant moi, Khan me dit qu'il est descendu à l'hôtel Place d'Armes, dans la suite Cristal et qu'il y sera jusqu'au lendemain si jamais je change d'avis.

— Désolé, mais j'ai déjà un rancard avec un séduisant jeune homme. Le vendredi soir c'est notre soirée popcorn.

— Ah oui? Un jeune homme? Ça ne serait pas ton neveu... des fois? devine Key, me prenant au dépourvu.

Je ne le nie aucunement et il argumente en me concédant que la famille passe avant tout... Mais que rien ne m'empêche par la suite de passer faire un tour à son hôtel quand le môme se sera endormi. Enfin quoi, c'est vrai! S'il dort, ce p’tit gars ne se rendra pas compte de mon absence...

— Vous feriez un très mauvais père, monsieur Drakniss.

Il me répond qu'en Islande, les mômes sont plus costauds qu'au Luxembourg apparemment parce que lui, il se gardait déjà seul à l'âge de six ans...

Je lui jette un regard qui veut tout dire et il hausse les épaules, se dirigeant vers son SUV aux vitres teintées qui est stationné non loin. Je tourne les talons et je retourne à l’intérieur. Ce sera bientôt la fermeture... j’ai encore quelques comptes à voir avant de pouvoir rentrer enfin rejoindre ma version miniature d’un homme qui ne fera jamais, oui, jamais partie de la vie de mon enfant! J’en suis bien décidée!

Lire le livre complet ici.

[empiredesimparte]

The entire imperial family before the coronation

The order was given at the Tuileries Palace: the whole family was to gather for the coronation festivities of H.I.M Emperor Napoléon V. This rare gathering in the heart of Paris gave rise to a colorful family photo. Some journalists are also linking the photo to Louis Simparte's recent articles against the imperial family. Is Emperor Napoléon V preparing a media counter-attack?

From left to right: Princess Amélie, Princess Marianne, Prince Philippe (2nd in order of succession), Madame Hortense, Empress Charlotte of the French, Emperor Napoléon V of the French, Madame Mère Marie-Joséphine, Princess Armance, Imperial Prince Henri of the French (1st in order of succession), Princess-Napoléon Olympia and Princess Sophie.

Imperial Prince Henri of the French has unexpectedly become heir to the crown once again. Less popular and well-known than Emperor Napoléon V and Madame Hortense, the imperial family is certainly preparing its return to the media and political scene. Prince Henri may seem like a man of many secrets, but he's actually more accessible than his late brother, Emperor Napoléon IV.

Few details are known about the preparations for the festivities, but many Parisians have noticed the extensive work being carried out on Notre-Dame Cathedral.

⚜ Traduction française

La famille impériale au complet avant le sacre

L'ordre a été lancé au palais des Tuileries : toute la famille doit se réunir à l'occasion des festivités du couronnement de l'Empereur Napoléon V. Ce rassemblement rare au cœur de Paris a donné lieu a une photo familiale colorée. Certains journalistes font également le lien entre cette photo et les récents articles de Louis Simparte à l'encontre de la famille impériale. L'Empereur Napoléon V prépare-t-il une contre-attaque médiatique ?

De gauche à droite : la princesse Amélie, la princesse Marianne, le prince Philippe (2e dans l'ordre de succession), Madame Hortense, l'Impératrice Charlotte des Français, l'Empereur Napoléon V des Français, Madame Mère Marie-Joséphine, la princesse Armance, le prince impérial Henri des Français (1er dans l'ordre de succession), la princesse-Napoléon Olympia et enfin la princesse Sophie.

De manière inattendue, le prince impérial Henri des Français est redevenu l'héritier de la Couronne. Moins populaire et connu que l'Empereur Napoléon V et Madame Hortense, la famille impériale prépare certainement son retour sur la scène médiatique et politique. Le prince Henri a beaucoup de secrets en apparence, mais il est en réalité plus accessible que feu son frère, l'Empereur Napoléon IV.

Peu de détails sont connus concernant la préparation des festivités, mais beaucoup de parisiens ont remarqué les travaux conséquents réalisés à la cathédrale Notre-Dame.

[istadris]

C'est à la fois pathétique et ironique que Brutus, dans le fils d'Asterix, fait tout pour se débarrasser du fils de Cesar pour éliminer un rival quand le petiot n'est même pas mentionné dans le testament de César (probablement parce que César est déjà marié donc le fils de Cleopatre ça ne passerait pas) alors que lui oui (comme certains des autres futurs assassins de César ce que je trouve super triste) mais qu'il se plante totalement de cible puisque l'héritier que César a choisit et a adopté post mortem dans son testament, c'est Octave, aka baby Auguste.

Non seulement il se plante de cible et fait tout ça pour rien. Mais en plus il a énervé César contre lui (même si il ne seras pas radié du testament pour autant) et la confiance risque de ne plus être trop là.

Et c'est Octave qui l'auras à la fin.

Que ce serait marrant de l'avoir dans un futur album d'ailleurs. Le gamin qui se fait porter pâle à chaque baston mais qui est super intelligent.

Pour être honnête, Astérix diffère tellement de la réalité historique que je considère la BD comme une réalité alternative. On n'est pas dans Alix qui cherche à éduquer ses lecteurs avec un grand souci de réalisme historique XD

Octave n'existe pas (encore) dans la BD et les autres femmes de César ne sont jamais mentionnées alors que Cléopâtre est clairement le principal love interest de César. Le Fils d'Astérix mentionne aussi le but de Brutus comme étant d'éliminer un autre héritier de César, sans mention de qui que ce soit d'autre.

Et quand au Brutus historique, il est possible qu'il n'ait même pas été le fils adoptif de César ! Mais il était certainement bien loin de la brute avide que dépeint la BD ^^

Par contre j'adhère totalement à ton idée sur la version Astérix d'Octave. Faire un running gag sur ses manies historiques comme César avec son "toi aussi mon fils" serait excellent !

Le pire, c'est que son introduction ne bouleverserait pas tant la continuité de la BD qui, surtout avec les nouveaux auteurs, est de plus en plus floue (et c'est dire, pour une BD franco-belge non feuilletonnante !)

[my-imaginary-land]

Ben&Armie : l'héritier paragul

👇 lien en bas de la page 👇

Extrait chapitre 1 : Découverte

Vaisseau académique du premier ordre, au-dessus d'Arkanis.

Armie était assis face au bureau de l'amiral Rax. L'air boudeur, il l'écoutait lui remonter les bretelles.

- Je ne comprends pas ce qui t'a pris voyons ! Continua Rax assit. Menacer un camarade avec un de nos blasters et ensuite feinté de mettre fin à tes jours !

Armie n'osait pas le regarder, il préférait garder son regard fixe, sur ses genoux.

- Quel déshonneur cela aurait été ! Si tu veux te suicider tu n'as qu'as sauter du garage ! Rax se leva et se tourna vers la grande baie vitrée derrière lui, où la vue sur Arkanis, leur planète, était plongeante. Pourquoi tu ne m'en as pas parlé ? Il se retourna de nouveau vers Armie.

Armie prit une inspiration par la bouche, il avait l'air inquiet et empêtré dans une situation compliquée.

- Je... commença t'il. Je pensais pouvoir gérer ça tout seul...

Rax eu une expression compatissant.

- Tu n'aurais pas simplement pu lui mettre un bon coup de poing ? Il attrapa le dossier de sa chaise. Ce garçon l'avait sûrement mérité mais le menacer d'une arme n'est pas une option. Appuya t'il.

- Mais je ne savais pas comment faire, se défendit Armie. Il a tellement confiance en lui et tout le monde l'apprécie ! Moi je ne suis que... moi quoi !

- Comment ça tu n'es que toi ? Armie tu as un destin comparé à tous ces jeunes qui pensent un jour peut être réussir la moitié de ce que toi tu pourras faire. Arrête de te rabaisser de la sorte. Rax posait sur lui des yeux bienveillants.

- Parce ce que je suis intelligent ou parce que je suis le fils Hux ? Ou encore que je sois sous ta protection ? Il n'hésitait plus à fixer son mentor, le regard accusateur.

Rax se déplaça pour se mettre devant lui et s'asseoir sur son bureau.

- Tu es quelqu'un d'exceptionnel simplement. Il lui sourit mais Armie ne lui rendit pas, il était en colère. Qui était le garçon qui t'a empêché de foutre ta vie en l'air ?

Armie soupira.

- Le nouveau... Ben, Dit-il avec une grimace.

- C'est un bon garçon, tu devrais être gentil avec lui, il n'a pas la même éducation que toi mais il est... reconnaissant de la chance qu'on lui offre.

- Alors là tu veux vraiment foutre ma vie en l'air ! Hallucina Armie en levant ses mains gantées. Tu veux que je me cache derrière ce mec qui en plus est nouveau et à qui personne ne parle ! Si moi je m'y mets, là c'est sûr, personne ne tentera plus jamais d'essayer de me connaître ! Dramatisa-t-il avec un air inquiet.

Rax se leva et retourna à la fenêtre. A croire qu'il aimait se plonger dans cet océan d'étoile. Armie le regardait comme ci il attendait une réponse.

- Arkanis a été attaqué. Commença Rax. Il avait un ton bas et grave. Les Paraguls déclarent la guerre. L'académie a été prise d'assaut... il n'y a aucun survivant...même pas ton père. Un silence s'installa. Il entendit Armie renifler. Il tourna la tête délicatement comme pour ne pas paraître grossier. Armie semblait ailleurs mais aucunes larmes ne coulaient sur ses joues. Je vais devoir partir quelques temps pour superviser la défense. Armie le regarda enfin. Fais-toi des amis Armie, tu en aura besoin... tu peux disposer.

Ce dernier se leva poliment, il baissa la tête pour faire un salut à son supérieur militaire.

- Monsieur, Dit-il avant de se diriger vers la porte.

- Armie une dernière chose. L'intéressé se retourna. Coupe-moi ces cheveux

Retrouvez la suite ici :

[aurevoirmonty]

"Grâce à la religion domestique, la famille était un petit corps organisé, une petite société avec un chef et un gouvernement. Rien dans notre société moderne ne peut nous donner une idée de ce pouvoir paternel. Dans cette antiquité, le père n'est pas seulement l'homme fort qui protège et qui a également le pouvoir de se faire obéir; il est le prêtre, l'héritier du feu sacré, le continuateur des aïeux, le tronc des descendants, le dépositaire des rites mystérieux du culte et des formules secrètes de la prière. Toute la religion réside en lui."

Fustel de Coulanges, La Cité antique

[adarkrainbow]

I am currently re-reading Jack Zipes' "Fairytales and the art of subversion". Well I am re-reading this book's chapter on French fairytales, and I do plan on reading the rest of the work. And I have to say I might have been a bit too harsh about Zipes. I still wouldn't recommend him as a way to understand French literary fairytales - but at least now I understand why he is wrong, despite seemingly getting so many things right.

Because there ARE many right and true things in this book's second chapter. The summarized chronology of French literary fairytales ; the double inheritage of French folklore and Italian literature ; the enormous influence French literary fairytales had on the 18th and 19th century Germany... It's all there, correct and good.

But the main problem of Jack Zipes' interpretation and description of French fairytales remain. However I don't blame Zipes for it because this book was clearly written in the 80s United-States, for the 80s Americans, and as such yes there are things debunked now and yes Zipes evokes things that "nobody" does when in fact some people have done them before - just in Europe (like the whole segment in the first chapter about nobody caring about the social or historical analysis of fairytales). Similarly, the main flaw of this second chapter is very simply put a widespread misinformation, a common incorrect belief, but that is unfortunately still surviving to this day, and that is no surprising to see in 80s works - this misconception still is seen today, and its debunking is relatively "recent", at least recent enough to not be widespread.

And here's the problem: Jack Zipes writes his chapter and his analysis with one preconception and one thesis. Perrault (and others like mademoiselle L'Héritier or madame d'Aulnoy) wrote their fairytales for both adults and children, but with a strong focus on children ; if they added morals to their stories it was because these fairytales were moralistic education tools ; and the main goal and nature of these fairytales was a social and cultural endoctrinment to shape the "adults of tomorrow".

The idea that Perrault and others wrote exclusively or mainly for children was indeed widespread thanks to the 19th century mishandling of fairytales as a whole ; but this is false. And from this false basis that fairytales were mainly aimed at children, Zipes creates an analysis that could have worked... But is actually false, or very, very superficial - because to consider that Perrault and co.'s fairytales were aimed at children is a superficial reading of the stories with a strong lack of critical view or context-knowledge.

The real deal of the thing is this - yes, the "wave of fairytales" started out for adults and ended up for children, as Zipes himself explains. But Zipes (and all the others he based himself on) are wrong in believing the fairytales were aimed at children since the beginnings. Perrault, madame d'Aulnoy, mademoiselle L'Héritier and the others, did NOT write for children - they wrote for adults. And yes, Perrault evoked how his stories were "for children"... But he also wrote about how his stories had been written by his teenage son and not himself - but a careful look proves that Perrault's fairytales were only aimed at children as a "pretense", as a sort of stylistic ornament, as a literary "game" so to speak, the same way Perrault had to pretend the stories had not been written by him but collected by his youngest son - it was all part of the... "persona" if you will. It was only by the mid 18th century, with the renewal of the "literary French fairytale (non-orientalist)" that some authors started to think "Wait... Maybe we could use fairytales to teach children while entertaining them! Actually do pedagogic fairytales instead of just "playing pretend" at being literary moralists!". The most defining and prominent of those authors was madame Leprince de Beaumont, the first to ACTUALLY write literary fairytales for children, as in REALLY for children, not as in "Yeah, we say we write for children but clearly only adults will read it". One might argue Fénelon did wrote, at the end of the 17th century, pedagogic fairytales for the child he was supposed to teach (THE ROYAL HEIR!)... But unlike Perrault or d'Aulnoy's fairytales, which were public, Fénelon's story were private and only published after his death, in the 18th century.

As for how Perrault and d'Aulnoy's stories, written by adults for adults, ended up as "classics of childhood literature"... Well its simple: the Blue Library and the peddling books. The Blue Library, the most famous and renowned collection of cheap books sold to the uneducated masses by peddlers, did their money by taking great classics or massively popular works and printing out heavily edited or simplified versions of them - and the Blue Library immediately took all the most successful literary fairytales of the salons, and printed them out, and shared them massively across France for the non-aristocratic folks, and the uneducated folks, and the poor peasants... Which is how the stories became part of French popular culture, but which is also why the entire literary context and socio-cultural meaning of these tales was completely lost. How could the barely-alphabetized countryside family understand the refined puns, the courtly caricatures and the book references made in these stories (often very simplified, chaotically edited or misprinted?). People only remember pretty princesses and talking cats and fairy godmothers, and thus they classified it all back into "children stories" and, in a full circle, these literary stories invented out of the folklore became in turn folktales of the French countryside...

So yes, Jack Zipes' chapter on French fairytales is wrong, and spread misinformation, but it isn't his fault - he just did with what was widespread at the time, and he did his best as a foreigner dealing with works even misunderstood in their own country, AND his work is simply a bit outdated. Its not bad, it just... Didn't age well

[goudisbi]

Après leur déménagement à Hidden Springs, les choses sont allées en s'empirant entre Val et Gilles. Même s'ils habitaient sur le même terrain, mère et fils partagent désormais deux maisons distinctes ! Et la situation ne s'est vraiment pas arrangée en devant ennemis. Quant à la situation personnelle de l'héritier, il a décidé de complètement abandonné l'école pour se mettre aux activités qu'il aimait. Oui, à son âge ! Ah et... Gilles a rencontré des extraterrestres.

[detournementsmineurs]

Maurice Garrel, Charles Denner et Jean-Paul Belmondo dans "L'Héritier" de Philippe Labro (1973), mai 2024.

[seeasweetsmile]

Team Rocket fanfics ideas Part 1.

Team Rocket’s ideas – PART 2: The ship Giovanni x Ariana

- Madame Boss tell to Giovanni he will team up with Ariana. Giovanni is not happy but he must obey to his mom. Ariana don't want to treat him as the precious Team Rocket's heir/Boss-to-be, she's rather amused to make fun of him by call him "Monsieur l'héritier" and not by his name (she only do it in few occasions), she want Giovanni to proove his value on the field and not eating his boots like others. She has a proud but calm attitude, she love doing crimes, she's good as pokemon trainer. She has ambitious goal; not staying a grunt but level up to become executive/commander (to tied this to the canon game).

- Giovanni and Ariana relationship is chaotic; they don't get along, Giovanni trying to get Ariana to recognize his superiority/value, Ariana don't take him seriously/scold him when he doing mistakes. Even if they bickering a lot, their missions are still a success. They do lights missions (steal evolving stones or burglaries) but they also do important missions to foreshadowing some Kanto or Johto events (the Lune Stones at Mt Moon, Slyphe Co.'s products, Saint-Anne's boat, Johto's HQ). They don’t flirt openly because it’s not how they are. It doesn’t stop grunts and Petrel to still make bet and rumors about them, tho.

Their feelings for each other growing SLOW. It's only in the middle of the story they start to get along little by little... before their ambitious self goal kick-in and Ariana decide she'll be better without him. Giovanni, who started to warm up towards Ariana, don't take it well but he's agree because it's the right thing to do. Their duo get separate and they walk on their own route (they still bickering or provoke each other when they cross path tho). They admit their feelings and get together almost at the end of the story, like two or three chapters before the last chapter.

- Madame Boss is proud to have Ariana as daughter-in-law and she made a little ceremony to welcome Ariane in the familia, mafioso’s style.

- The final chapter ends on a slight timeskip and centers on Giovanni's succession to Madame Boss as leader of Team Rocket + announcement of Ariane's pregnancy.

They’ll have 2 childrens (but not at the same time):

- Mars (who’ll become commander Mars in Team Galactic)

If you’re a rocket fans, you’ll probably fall on this headcanon or idea or fanart at some point because of how similar Ariana and Mars are. My friend and I made up a backstory for her too.

We slighty change her name: we decided to take Marcia, it’s the french name of her ancestor in Pokemon Legend Arceus. So it’s suit her perfectly.

- Silver.

Trivias:

- Ariana has 3 Pokemon: Arbok, Glom, Murkrow.

- Giovanni has 4 Pokemon: Persian, Rhyhorn, Nidorino and Nidorina.

- Ariana’s earrings triangles form she wear in the games were Giovanni’s gift for her commander grade; of course, they’re stolen ones.

- Mars and Silver have 7 years of age gap.

Ariana has 20 y/o and Giovanni 23 y/o when they have Mars.

Ariana 27 and Giovanni 30 when they have Silver (since Giovanni has 40/41 at Kanto-Johto series and that Silver has 10/11 old. Ariana has 37/38).

For this, we don’t count the 3 years from the games because it’s too complicated, instead we stay on anime’s pattern of 1 region = 1 year.

[arypurple]

Laito Sakamaki

Nom: Sakamaki.

Prénom: Laito.

Parents: Karlheinz et Cordelia.

Âge: 17 ans (physiquement)

Race: Vampire.

Taille: 1m74

Date de naissance: 20 mars.

Signe astrologique: Poisson.

Nourriture favorite: Macaron.

Hobbie(s): Les mots-croisés.

Physique: Laito a les cheveux brun rougeâtre jusqu'aux épaules, avec une couleur blonde plus pâles aux extrémités, un grain de beauté sur le côté droit de son menton et des yeux verts, tout comme son frère Ayato. Il a la peau claire et est toujours vu avec un chapeau sur la tête.

Caractère: Laito est extrêmement perverti. Sa nature perverse l'amène souvent à être suspendu de l'école. Laito est un Do-S (sadique extrême comme tous ses frères). Il est toujours joyeux, il aime plaisanter et taquiner. Mais sa personnalité change quand quelque chose va à l'encontre de ses désirs. On peut voir que Laito est bon pour interpréter les motifs des gens. Il est un pervers ouvert et un voyeur, ce qui lui donne l'envie de partager sa proie avec d'autres et de la voir se faire souiller par d'autres, mais ensuite il devient possessif et jaloux et la punit pour cela.

Histoire: Quand même qu'il est biologiquement l'aîné, il est considéré comme le plus jeune des triplés car selon une vieille tradition japonaise, Ayato, qui est né le dernier, devient l'aîné. Enfant, il était le plus négligé par ses frères. Ayato devait devenir l'héritier, Kanato était le chanteur de Cordelia, mais lui n'avait aucun but. Quand il a grandi, sa mère a commencé une relation incestueuse avec lui. De ce fait, il la considère plus comme une amante que comme une mère. Elle lui a appris que l'amour se résumait au sexe et au harcèlement sexuel. Quand Karlheinz découvrit la relation, il fut jeté au donjon. Cordelia est allée le voir pour lui dire qu'elle avait trouvé quelqu'un d'autre, qu'il n'était pas spécial pour elle parmi tous les autres hommes, avant de coucher avec Richter devant lui. Il ne pouvait s'empêcher de la regarder avec d'autres hommes et a fini par tuer beaucoup d'amants. Cependant, sa mère lui a fait promettre de ne pas tuer Richter, son oncle à lui. Tout cela aura pour résultat de le faire devenir le pervers qu'il est aujourd'hui et de ne pas avoir une compréhension claire de l'amour. Au final, quand Cordelia a été attaquée par Ayato et a couru vers Laito pour être aidée, il l'a poussée du balcon en guise de réponse avant d'affirmer qu'elle était maintenant à lui pour l'éternité.

Bonus:

Parmi les triplés, Laito et Ayato s'entendent le mieux.

Dans le passé, Laito avait été sexuellement intime avec une femme de chambre nommée Hilde.

Il sait jouer du piano.

Il est droitier.

Il fait du quarante-et-un en chaussures.

Il a peur des insectes et des bestioles.

Il peut parler français.

Sa zone érogène est située sous le nombril.

Il n'aime pas le poisson cru.

Il a déjà été suspendu de l'école, bien qu'il n'ait jamais mentionné pourquoi.

L'endroit où Laito préfère sucer le sang est la cuisse.

Chanson thème:  🎵

[empiredesimparte]

They spy live on the conversation between Madame Hortense and her boyfriend, Duke Oliver of Rothsey

Oliver: No…no not at all Hortense! Believe me when I say that it was not left there out of malice. My mother wants me to tell you that she tried to warn me Hortense (sad): Your mother is right. Because of that photo, everyone around is staring at me, Louis thinks I'm not myself anymore and our priest is considering a discussion with me. Have you even read what the magazines here say?

Oliver: I did…believe me, I did not think they would pit you and Louis against each other….you must know how sorry I am… Hortense: Louis thinks, and I agree, that what's done is done. We'll have to lay low again until the coronation (sighs) I don't want my brother to get into trouble because of us

Oliver: I…[sigh] I know you are right…I just…I hate that I will have to hide you while you will be here in Scotland…I'm sorry Mo Gaol, I just wanted to show how much I love you…I feel like these feelings are straining to burst forth from my heart… Hortense: I know you meant no harm, and I love you. Try to be patient, just wait until the coronation is over. In a few months. Please, Oliver Oliver: I will do my best Hortense…

Jean: Oliver of Rothsey seems sincere, I don't think he threatens the Crown in the future Napoléon V: I agree

Henri: That's a relief, the Scots can be stubborn. We should have a serious talk with the Duke

Jean: Perhaps it's best indeed, spying on the Scottish heir is perilous for our diplomatic relations Napoléon V: Yes, it's useless. Oliver is a good man and a friend… I didn't know that this phone was tapped

Jean: In fact, many devices are, Sire

Henri: Jean, this is neither the time nor the place Napoléon V: What do you mean?

Jean: Our Emperor had to find out one day

Napoléon V (suspicious): We will discuss this again in Paris, Jean. In the meantime, let's avoid this kind of meeting and attracting attention

⚜ Le Cabinet Noir | Compiègne, 15 Floréal An 230

Beginning ▬ Previous ▬ Next

This post refers to this episode in the story of Oliver and Hortense. Collaboration with @officalroyalsofpierreland

⚜ Traduction française

Ils espionnent en direct la conversation entre Hortense et son petit ami, le duc Oliver de Rothsey

Oliver : Non…non pas du tout Hortense ! Crois-moi, je n'ai pas voulu vous blesser. Ma mère a essayé de m'avertir, sache-le, mais je ne l'ai pas écoutée Hortense (triste) : Ta mère a raison. A cause de cette photo, tout le monde me regarde, Louis pense que je ne suis plus moi-même et notre curé envisage une discussion avec moi. As-tu seulement lu ce que disent les magazines d'ici ?

Oliver : Je sais… Je ne pensais pas que cela ferait du mal à ta relation avec ton frère. Tu ne sais pas à quel point je suis désolé… Hortense (soupire) : Louis pense, et je suis d'accord, que ce qui est fait est fait. Nous allons devoir faire profil bas jusqu'au couronnement. Je ne veux pas que mon frère ait des ennuis à cause de nous

Oliver : Je… [soupir] Je sais que tu as raison… C'est juste que… Quand tu seras ici en Ecosse, nous ne pourrons pas être aussi libres que je le souhaite et… Je suis désolé Mo Gaol, je voulais juste te montrer à quel point je t'aime… J'ai l'impression que ces sentiments s'efforcent de jaillir de mon cœur… Hortense : Je sais que tu ne voulais pas me faire de mal et je t'aime. Essaie d'être patient, attends que le couronnement soit terminé. Dans quelques mois. S'il te plaît, Oliver Oliver : Je ferai de mon mieux, Hortense…

Jean : Le duc de Rothsey semble sincère, je ne crois pas qu'il menace la Couronne à l'avenir Napoléon V : Je suis aussi de cet avis

Henri : C'est un soulagement, les écossais peuvent être têtus. Il nous faudrait avoir une conversation sérieuse avec le duc

Jean : C'est peut-être le mieux en effet, espionner l'héritier écossais est périlleux pour nos relations diplomatiques Napoléon V : Oui, c'est inutile. Oliver est un homme bon et un ami... J'ignorais que ce téléphone était sur écoute

Jean : A vrai dire, de nombreux appareils le sont, Sire

Henri : Jean, ce n'est ni le lieu ni le bon moment Napoléon V : Comment ça ?

Jean : L'Empereur devait bien l'apprendre un jour

Napoléon V (soupçonneux) : Nous en rediscuterons à Paris, Jean. En attendant, évitons ce genre de réunions et d'attirer l'attention