Aulnoy, Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, countess d'

(ca. 1650-1705)

   writer

   Born at Barneville, Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, countess d'Aulnoy, was forced, because she tried to escape her husband, to sojourn in Spain, then in England (from 1669 to 1685), where in 1690, she produced her Mémoires de la cour d'Espagne, followed by Relation du voyage en Espagne (1691), and Mémoires de la cour d'Angleterre (1695), inexact but lively chronicles. upon her return to France (1685), she opened a literary salon frequented by worldly society and published a romantic account that enjoyed a great success, Histoire d'Hippolyte, comte de Douglas (1690). Her Contes de fées (or Les Fées à la mode, 1697) are charming fairy tales meant especially for children (L'Oiseau bleu; Gracieuse et Percinet; La Chatte blanche), while Les Illustres Fées (1698) evokes an elegant society more than a world of fantasy.