Mayer, Charles‐Joseph, chevalier de
Mayer, Charles‐Joseph, chevalier de (1751–1825),French writer and editor of the 40‐volume Cabinet des fées (1785–9). This massive collection brought together fairy tales written and published over a period of 100 years in France. Although Mayer rejected almost all ‘licentious’ tales, he none the less included ‘oriental’ tales. In addition to his work as editor, Mayer also wrote for this collection useful biographical essays on 17th‐ and 18th‐century writers of fairy tales and an essay (‘Discours préliminaire’) that is one of the first attempts at a critical synthesis of the literary fairy tale in France. Mayer speculates on the social and literary origins of the genre, defines its function as primarily didactic, and extols it as an expression of French refinement. Both this essay and the Cabinet as a whole are marked by a sense of nostalgia for (what is perceived to...
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