The Fairies Cabinet
A literary non-profit project
by Countess Isabelle Palazzi Trivelli dedicated to Noble Ladies
In XVII Century Louis XIV, (Louis Dieudonné; 1638 – 1715), known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, surrounded himself with a variety of significant political and cultural figures during all his 72 years of Reign. He was fond of every kind of Knowledge and his Court became the emblem of Art, Literature and Culture all over the world. In 1661, Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse, and in 1669 the Académie d' Opéra, He also built the Palace of Versailles. He brought the Académie Française under his patronage and became its Mentor.
He allowed Classical French literature to flourish by protecting such writers as Molière, Racine, Perrault and La Fontaine, and inspired several charming Ladies at his Court to became authors, writers and artists and their works remain influential and inspiring for all female authors since then. Among the most interesting figures at the Court of the Sun King, there was Charles Perrault (1628 –1703) member of the Académie Française, (seat 23), from 1671, and author of the famous fairy tale book Histoires ou Contes du temps passé, avec des moralités, also known as Les Contes de Maman l'Oye (The Tales of Mother Goose). The father of the French ‘Cinderella’, enchanted every night noble Ladies at the Court, telling them Fairy-Tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Sleeping Beauty, Thumbeno, Cinderella and The Cat in the Boots, creating an actual Fairy-Tales circle inside Versailles.
Following the magical hints of Perrault and La Fontaine and the influences of the Salon of Paris and of the Italian Authors Basile and Straparola, several charming Ladies at the Court of King Louis XIV started something which will be later defined as one of the most enchanting and interesting paths of literature of all times.
King Louis XIV
Charles Perrault
Several Court Ladies became in fact, authors of fairy-tales, collecting the oral tales of their times or writing some on their own.
Hundred years later, Knight Charles-Joseph Mayer (1751-1825) understood the importance of this marvelous collection and decided to publish the stories in a Selected Collection of Fairy Tales and Other Wonderful Tales called The Fairies Cabinet which was compiled and published in Amsterdam between 1785 and 1789.
It includes forty-one volumes, presenting the texts of forty storytellers, including Charles Perrault, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Knight of Mailly and others, but the real news about it, was that many of the Fairy Tales Authors were actually Ladies, such as Madame d'Aulnoy, Madame Le Prince de Beaumont, Mademoiselle de La Force, Mademoiselle L’ Heritier, and many others.
The Fairies Cabinet brings together tales from the 17th and 18th centuries. Mayer's knight's intention is therefore similar to that of the Brothers Grimm, whom he preceded by twenty years.
De Mayer realizes above all a sum, bringing together fairy tales as well as wonderful tales without distinction of geographical origin: French tales rub shoulders with oriental tales (Tales of a Thousand and One Nights), Arab, Turkish, but also Indian and Chinese, also he did not publish licentious tales, and gave an important place to certain authors such as Charles Perrault or Madame d'Aulnoy who is believed to have also coined the term fairy-tale in the late 17th century.
The collection counts also fairy tales from Charles Perrault himself and the story of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ written, in its best-known versions and following the roots of a true story, both by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont and by Madame d’Aulnoy.
Each volume is illustrated with three engravings, drawn by Mr. Marillier and engraved under the direction of Nicolas Delaunay.
For over two centuries now, the so called: Le Cabinet des Fees (The Fairies Cabinet), has become a never-ending source of dreams, marvelous stories and an incredible gift for the world literature and last but not least one of the most important example of female authors collection in world literature.
Madame d’Aulnoy \ Le Prince de Beaumont \ Charlotte Rose de la Force \ Mademoiselle L’Heritier
The Fairies Cabinet 2022
After over 300 years from the Fairy-Tales Literary movement at the Court of King Louis XIV and over 200 years from the first published collection of Fairy Tales called The Fairies Cabinet (Le Cabinet des Fées,1785), mostly written by Noble Ladies at the Court of Versailles, Countess Isabelle Palazzi Trivelli started a new Fairies Cabinet today, inviting Ladies to write a Fairy-Tale to be collected in a Book called ‘The Fairies Cabinet 2022’ which will be published on Amazon before the end of 2022.
The aim of the new Fairies Cabinet is to preserve old stories and legends and fairy-tales of our own family traditions, territories and regions from oblivion and/or to publish new invented stories following the roots of classic tales and traditional values with a Happy Ending and some magic, written by female authors nowadays.
Easop, Fedro, Apuleio, Jean de La Fontaine, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats, Aleksander Afanasyev, Alexandre Dumas, Hans Christian Andersen, Mark Twain, Friedrich Novalis, Antoine de Saint -Exupery, Rudyard Kipling, Jules Verne, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.M. Barrie, Italo Calvino, Lewis Carrol and many others wrote Fairy-Tales, and great scientists and authors such as Carl Gustav Jung, V.J. Propp and Marie Louise von Franz and Stith Thompson studied and wrote about Fairy tales, nevertheless today Fairy-Tales are often relegated only as children literature’s genre, but nothing could be more wrong in fact fairy-tales draw their roots from ancient mythology and the origins of mankind.
They can be found in all cultures around the world, from Europe to the Middle East, from America to India, from Australia to China...
There are over 300 versions of Cinderella in different countries with different languages and cultures, so imagine the power of fairy- tales also as a symbol of Unity and Peace around the world beyond Space and Time.
However only a few people remember the names of female fairy-tale authors We shall not forget that even Brothers Grimm collected their fairy-tales from the ancient stories of the old Ladies of the german Region of Assia.
In-fact Fairy Tales were usually told orally by women, and it basically was a female genre to warn children from dangers and teach them strength, patience and values and to give them hope for the future. Fairy tales are powerful metaphors of life, psychologists agree that fairy tales teach children (and grownups) how to more effectively navigate through the world, they preach discipline, patience, loyalty, determination, brave actions, and most importantly they encourage us to face and overcome obstacles in order to achieve our goals.
Per Aspera ad Astra the Latins would say (from the Ashes to the Stars).
So dear Ladies, The Fairies Cabinet is ready to live again, let’s use our magic female touch and our Fairies words to spread some light around the world in these darkest times, maybe only Fairy-Tales with their old values, ancient roots, magic and traditions may bring old and new dreams, back to life.
Writing a Fairy-Tale for the Fairies Cabinet 2022
Ladies may choose between writing a Fairy Tale or a Fable, according to the Cambridge Dictionary:
Fable a short story that tells a moral truth, often using animals as characters
Fairy-Tale a traditional story that usually involves imaginary creatures and magic...
Ladies have Three Options about what they may choose to write:
1) A well-known fairy tale such as Cinderella that they wish to tell with their own words
2) A Story that belongs to their family, territory or region so to preserve traditions of our own lands and family
3) A Story they invented or have in mind and wish to share with the Fairies Cabinet
Each fairy tale usually have three main elements: Protagonist, Obstacle, Goal
With these simple elements we can create every kind of short story.
For Example: a princess/a maiden/a poor girl escapes from an evil
stepmother/witch/wizard and finally gets to the reign of a good
king/prince/knight... who marries her at the end...
All fairy tales shall begin with...:Once upon a time..." No limits to fantasy.
Attachments: Countess Isabelle will send in attachment more infos about
Fables and Fairy Tales and a list of 7 kind of Characters and 31 fairy-tales
elements compiled by Vladimir Propp, (author of the 'Fairy-Tales
Morphology' in 1928) to the Ladies involved, as inspirations to create their
own stories, when needed.
Publishing and Copy Rights
The Collection of Fairy-Tales, entitled The Fairies Cabinet 2022 will be released in 2022 by Bonaventura srl 'and distributed by Amazon. The Names and Noble Titles (or eventual nicknames) of the Ladies involved will appear: -on the Cover of the Book -as Header on every page of their fairytale -in the General Index of the Book. -in every Media involved -on links and websites where The Fairies Cabinet 2022' is nominated. -The assignment of copy right of each Fairy Tale, will be exclusively limited to The Fairies Cabinet's Book (and its reprints and new editions), with the same aim and Book's title: The Fairies Cabinet'. -Ladies have time until December 31st 2021 to send their Fairy-Tale to CountessPalazziTrivelli@gmail.com so to be ready to Publish the Book in the Spring 2022. -The Fairies Cabinet will be presented to the Press before the release of the Book, in Palace Palazzi Trivelli, (Piazza San Giovanni 4, 42121 Reggio Emilia, (RE) Italy, official headquarters of the Fairies Cabinet 2022. All Ladies involved are invited to the event which will be followed by a formal Reception. The Proceeds from the sales of the Book The Fairies Cabinet 2022' will be entirely donated to Charity2, please don't hesitate to ask for further information writing to segreteria.palazzitrivelli@gmail.com
Text Hints
Length is not an issue it may be a few lines or a few pages, all fairy-tales will be given the same attention and caring before editing and publishing. The Book will be published in English, but Ladies can write the fairy tale in their own language. Countess Isabelle will take care of the publishing and only wishes to receive the fairy-tales from the Ladies who will be willing to be involved in the new Fairies Cabinet 2022, by email at the following Contact CountessPalazziTrivelli@gmail.com before December 31s* 2021. Countess Isabelle will organize a Zoom call with the Ladies every month if they may need advices or wish to communicate with her
Isabelle Palazzi Trivelli
Countess Palazzi Trivelli, born Federica Isabelle Adriani Federici, Author with a PhD in History and Journalist expert in fairy-tales and mythology, is the founder and President of The Fairies Cabinet 2022. She published over 20 books among Fairy-Tales and Essay about the historical origins of Myths, Legends and Classic Tales, (such as the Compendium: The DNA of Fairy Tales, The True Story of Cinderella, etc…), she hosts the Rai Program ‘Le Fiabe dal Mondo’ and Le Fiabe della Buonanotte’ (World Fairy-Tales and Good Night Fairy-Tales), for RAI Radio Kids. She founded the School Cinderella: Theatre and Fairy-Tales for disadvantaged children at Palazzo Palazzi Trivelli. She collects ancient books of Legends and Fairy Tales including the first edition of The Fairies Cabinet, (Le Cabinet des Fees, 1785) which inspired her this concept.
Countess Isabelle speaks English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
She wrote and produced with her husband Earl Vittorio Palazzi Trivelli, the documentary Open Quantum Relativity on time traveling with scientists who worked from NASA and Cern presented at the 70thVenice Film Festival and the documentary The Secrets of Wadi Rum about the ancient inscriptions hidden in the Jordan Desert.
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