Review: Bluebeard

Title: Bluebeard
Author: Charles Perrault/Angela Carter
Nationality: French/British
Year: 1697/1977
Publisher: Penguin Mini Modern Classics
Length: 80 pages
Rating: 9/10
Summary: Perrault, not Carter, but magical all the same

The outline

Five of Charles Perrault’s best fairy tales, translated by Angela Carter and bundled for Penguin’s Mini Modern Classics series.

Sample

Curiosity is a charming passion but may only be satisfied at the price of a thousand regrets; one sees around one a thousand examples of this sad truth every day. Curiosity is the most fleeting of pleasures; the moment it is satisfied, it ceases to exist and it always proves very, very expensive.

The verdict

The title of this book is extremely misleading. This is not Angela Carter’s Bluebeard at all, but rather Carter’s translation of Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard and some other fairytales. It’s a bit naughty of Penguin not to make this clear in the blurb, where the tales are described as “playful and subversive retellings”, rather than making it clear that they’re actually fairly faithful translations. I suppose it was the only way for them to include Carter in their Mini Modern Classics series, as most of her work (including her own set of fairy tales, The Bloody Chamber) is published by Vintage or Virago.

But leaving the fact that this is actually Perrault and not Carter aside, this is a little gem of a book and the fact that Carter kept close to his original works is a bonus. Most versions of Perrault’s tales are all too familiar, but Carter’s translation perfectly captures the satire, wit and elegance you would expect from a 17th century lawyer at the French court.

So it’s one star for Penguin’s marketing tactics, but five for Perrault’s original tales. Readers expecting Carter’s darker, modern retellings will be disappointed, but Perrault’s originals offer a surprisingly fresh outlook on all too familiar tales.