Making the Marvelous: Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Henriette-Julie de Murat, and the Literary Representation of the Decorative Arts

Rori Bloom's new publication on the writings of Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy and Henriette-Julie de Murat places the physical aspects of their fairy tales-items such as castles' decor, accessories, food, and art-on par with the action of the tale. Setting aside the traditional dissection...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSeventeenth-century news Vol. 81; no. 3/4; pp. 65 - 68
Main Author Elliott, Peggy Schaller
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published College Station Seventeenth-Century News 01.10.2023
Subjects
17th century
Culture
Decorative arts
Fairy tales
Women
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Summary:Rori Bloom's new publication on the writings of Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy and Henriette-Julie de Murat places the physical aspects of their fairy tales-items such as castles' decor, accessories, food, and art-on par with the action of the tale. Setting aside the traditional dissection of narratives most often used to critique this literary genre, Bloom moves furniture and fashion front and center in her analysis, portraying d'Aulnoy and Murat not only as "chroniclers of material culture but also as explorers of æsthetic issues including the relationship between art and power, word and image, the technical and the magical" (1). [...]in returning the creative focus to the skilled craftsmanship of French artists, Bloom stresses that both d'Aulnoy and Murat express their patriotism, guilefully criticize the king's aura of powerful omnipotence, and subtly make the case for their own skilled production, "a call for acknowledgement of the authors' own creative labor" (9). Bloom's study is its own small gem, prompting readers to reconsider the influential role of d'Aulnoy's and Murat's fairy tales in the expansion of literary innovation, and in documenting seventeenth-century French society and its culture.