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legendmaker
Unregistered User
(10/20/03 7:51 am)
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Villeneuve's Beauty & The Beast in English?
I am trying to locate the original text (either online or bound) of Madame Villeneuve's original story of Beauty and the Beast, translated into English. I know there are plenty of shortened versions based on her story, but I would like to locate her original story, in its entirety. Any advice?
--Chris Haviland
Read "Faith & Fairies"
http://faithandfairies.com
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Lotti
Unregistered User
(10/20/03 1:04 pm)
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Search no further...
Just have a look at Heidis wonderful SurLaLune fairy tale pages,
which this discussion board belongs to - the version you're looking
for is right there!)
Greetings, Lotti
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RymRytr1
Registered User
(10/20/03 1:27 pm)
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Re: Search no further...
Here is an addtional web site saying that they have Madam V's translation:
http://www.maerchenlexikon.de/etexte/425C/te425C-007.htm
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duglis
Registered User
(10/22/03 5:25 am)
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The Complete de Villeneuve in English
Here are 2 previous posts of mine:
1= Title: Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantments
by Jack Zipes. (The alternate named version that is a small paberback does not have the de Villeneuve story in it.)
I just finished reading the hardcover version of this out of print book (the paperback removes a few stories including the long version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST by de Villeneuve)..
and I have to say this was the most enjoyable fairy tale
book i've read since Joanna Cole's huge book on tales collected from all over.
If you have to find the hardcover, I'd recommend it
highly because of the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST de Villeneuve story.
2.
SPOILER *************
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*I have read that story and to make a long story short.
The prince was taken away at a young age and raised by a strange fairy who eventually fell in love with him and wanted his hand in marriage (he had become quite handsome). The prince thought this sort of like incest, and also the fairy was ugly, that he refused. The fairy complained to his real mother who
agreed with the prince. As punishment, she made him into a beast and thought that he was insane to refuse the hand of a most powerful fairy such as she.
The curse was as stated, that unless someone would agree to marry him as a beast, he would stay a beast.
Only if someone agreed to marry him as a beast could he
transform back into his old self. The fairy believed this would never happen.
There is much more regarding this including some laws given by the fairy to the beast that prevented him from
revealing who he was or acting intelligent or else the curse would never be lifted. Also, acting to help Beauty
was this fairy's enemy who was a fairy as well. I'm not sure if she was the bad fairy's younger sister or not. I'm not sure.
Anyway..after the Beast becomes a man, the tale really goes into this back story for many many a page. Quite detailed, odd and interesting.
be well! - Douglas
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LegendMaker
Registered User
(10/28/03 7:51 pm)
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But the authentic Villeneuve version is a lot longer...
Thanks for all your replies!
However, my understanding is that the original, authentic, unedited version of Beauty and the Beast, by Madame Gabrielle de Villeneuve (published in La Jeune Ameriquaine, et les Contes Marins, 1740) is 362 pages long, which includes genealogies, several different fairies, dream sequences, and lots of other detail that makes it a more tedious read. (See "Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale" by Betsey Hearne. 1989.)
So far that I can see, the version here at SurLaLune (which comes from Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book, which I already own) and the version at the web site quoted by RymRytr1 (probably the same) are abridged versions. There is also a much shorter version by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont from 1756, but I'm not looking for that either. What I'm trying to find is the original, long, unabridged, English translation of the Villeneuve version. I think I may have found it at a rare book store, but they're charging $300 for it.
Heidi's note:
The best English translation of de Villeneuve's
entire story can be found in Jack Zipes' Beauties, Beasts,
and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales. This book is
out of print, but can usually be found in larger libraries. The
story is not available in the paperback edition of the book, Beauty
and the Beast and Other Classic French Fairy Tales. The shorter
version by Madame Le Prince de Beaumont is available in both editions.
Zipes, Jack. Beauties,
Beasts and Enchantments: Classic French Fairy Tales. New
York: New American Library, 1989.
Buy
the book in paperback.
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