Abstract:

This essay argues that the contes moraux in Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont's Magasin des enfants (1756-57) constitute a seminal moment in the association of the fairy tale with children because of their pedagogical features and their link with children as readers. By rejecting the irony typical of earlier contes de fées, clarifying and simplifying the ethical and didactic dimensions, highlighting the role of the fairy as pedagogue, and emphasizing the themes of domestic work and virtue, Le Prince de Beaumont creates an influential model for nineteenth- and twentieth-century iterations of the genre for children.

Document Type: Research article