Historical and Racial Contexts in Madame d'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales

Robert Darnton's Approach: Fairy tales and folk tales are treated as historical documents that require deep historical and cultural contextualization.
Class Focus: While Darnton focuses on the peasant class, Madame d'Aulnoy's tales are analyzed through the lens of the aristocratic class and early modern racial ideologies.
Madame d'Aulnoy's Prestige: A central figure in the $17^{th}$ century fairy tale vogue, her works were published by Claude Barbin (who also published Racine and Moliere) and reached international audiences, with English translations appearing in $1691$ and $1692$ .

Fantasies of Otherness: Correspondences exist between fantastic literature and travel literature; fantasy transports readers to new worlds, while travel conveys fantasies of otherness.
Orient vs. New World: Europeans perceived the East as highly civilized, while the New World was viewed as an uncivilized tabula rasa (empty slate) for imperial inscription.
Imperial Context: D'Aulnoy's tales resonate with French colonial expansion and the "imperial imagination" rather than being mere generic tropes.

The Royal Symbol: The dolphin serves as a benevolent savior, echoing the symbol of the French monarchy ( $Le\,Dauphin$ ). Louis XIV was the $19^{th}$ Dauphin of France until $1643$ .
New World Plenitude: Descriptions of golden castles and bountiful lands in the tale reproduce the language used to describe the New World in the $17^{th}$ century.
Colonial Currency: The tale features gold coins stamped with the dolphin, noteworthy because the only French coins bearing that mark in the $16^{th}$ and $17^{th}$ centuries were for circulation in New France.

Francisation (Frenchification): This policy aimed to convert indigenous peoples to Catholicism and French civility, based on the paradigm of metamorphosis.
Human Perfectibility: A $17^{th}$ century belief that humans could be improved through "deliberate intervention," supporting the utopian project of transforming colonized people into "improved Europeans."
Missionary Reports: Optimistic accounts from Marie de l'Incarnation (Ursuline missionary, letters published $1677$ and $1681$ ) and Father Paul Le Jeune (Jesuit Relations, $1632$ and $1633$ ) influenced this cultural backdrop.
The Concept of "Sauvage": Native inhabitants were often positioned in a liminal space between European man and animal, sometimes associated with animal-like instincts as seen in the $1662$ carousel festival iconography.

Naming and Identity: D'Aulnoy names the protagonist Marcassin (young wild boar) or sanglier, unlike other versions that use the domesticated cochon (pig). This connects to the Huron people, whose name refers to hair like boar bristles (hure).
Racial Typologies: Francois Bernier’s $1684$ essay, "A New Division of the Earth," classified humanity into $4$ categories, indicating a trial period for modern racial logic during d'Aulnoy's time.
Fragility of Transformation: The tale highlights the tension between biological "nature" and the civilizing process. Despite becoming a perfect French citizen through education and dress, the Prince’s animal nature persists.
Miscegenation: The occurrence of pregnancy during the state of animal enchantment suggests an openness to interracial marriage and recognizes miscegenation as central to the imperial imagination of New France.