Beauty and the Beast – The Original Story

Aurora Wolfgang is Professor of French at Michigan State University. She is author of Gender and Voice in the French Novel, 1730–1782 (2004) and, in this series, edited and translated with Sharon Diane Nell, Jacques Du Bosc’s L’Honnête Femme: The Respectable Woman in Society and the New Collection of Letters and Responses by Contemporary Women (2014).

"Wolfgang’s edition and translation of Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s Beauty and the Beast stands out as an exemplary piece of scholarship that renders a great service not only to those scholars, teachers, and students interested in women writers but to the profession at large. Wolfgang’s translation perfectly captures the style, tone, and verve of the French, preserving the early modern flavor while remaining pleasurable and easy to read. It is one of the best English translations of an early modern text that I have encountered. . . . This is such a high-quality edition and translation of a woman’s text that it has the potential to inspire new research in early modern women’s writing and spark the interest of students and even the broader public. Wolfgang’s edition can change the way the twenty-first century public views the fairy tale genre as well as women’s position in literary history”.

• Acknowledgments xviiIntroduction 1La Belle et la Bête and “The Other Voice” 1Life and Works of Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve 2The Literary Fairy Tale and Women Writers 20A Young Woman’s Coming-of-Age in Eighteenth-Century France 29Sex and Violence 30Tenderness 32Desire 33The Wedding Night 36Powerful Women: Fairies, Queens, and Amazons 38Beauty: The Heroic and Worldly Woman 41The Fairy as Author 43Fairy Helpers 45Fairies Behaving Badly 48Weak Men: The Beast, the Merchant, and the King 51Two Meanings of the Beast: The Monstrosity of Body and Mind 54Exotic Destinations and Marvelous Lands 56The La Rochelle-Saint-Domingue Connection 58Fortunes Lost and Fortunes Gained 61“Everything exudes joy and magnificence” 63The Invisible Labor of Magnificence 64The Afterlife of La Belle et la Bête 68Note on the Translation 71The Young American Girl and Tales at Sea by Madame de *** 73Dedication to Madame Feydeau de Marville 75Preface 76Sailing to the New World 77Story of the Beauty and the Beast 89Story of the Beast 138Story of the Lady Fairy 151Bibliography 173Index 183