A metamorfose nos contos de fadas de Madame d’Aulnoy

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of metamorphosis in two fairy tales by the French writer Madame d'Aulnoy (1650 / 1651-1705), to whom the credit for creating the nomenclature “fairy tales” is due. We also intend to publicize the author's work, since few of her stories have been translated into Portuguese, and thus are not widely known, as well as the studies on these narratives among academic research in Brazil. The short stories selected for the analysis were “The white cat” and “The golden branch”. We reflected on the characterization and motivation of the characters' metamorphosis, specifically of the female gender, and we realized that heroines were punished when they resisted marriages that they did not want, to the extent that only through love did they become free from their misfortunes. Regarding the constitution of the fairy tale genre, we approach the birth of fairy tales from the female writing, recurrent in the literary movement that occurred in France in the 17th century, known as Preciosismo. In this way, we trace a historical path that begins in myths and orality, culminating in written tradition. In addition, our research is of a qualitative approach, as for nature it is basic research and bibliographic procedure, therefore, the theoretical assumption used to support the discussion, we organize it in the following way: historical sources, through books, websites and academic works to address Madame d'Aulnoy's biography and the context in which her work is inserted; also studies that theorize about the marvelous, fairy tales, and metamorphosis, namely, André Jolles (1930) Clive Staples Lewis (2015), Irlemar Chiampi (2015), Jack Zipe (1979), John Ronald Reuel Tolkien ( 2013), Joseph Campbell (1997), Mariza BT Mendes (2000), Mircea Eliade (1972), Nelly Novaes Coelho (2003), Robert Darnton (1986), Vera Maria Tietzmann Silva (1985), Vladimir Propp (2002), among others; and also the specific study of a French researcher on d'Aulnoy's work, Anne Defrance (1998).