Edouard Laboulaye (1811–1883)

FROM LITERARY HUB: Édouard Labouylaye (1811-1883)

Laboulaye, one of France’s foremost jurists and politicians in the nineteenth century, also published highly unusual fairy tales. His literary output is stunning: from his Contes bleus (“Blue Tales”) to works of experimental fiction, such as the Arabic moralistic novel, Abdallah ou le trèfle à quatre feuilles (Abdallah, or The Four-leaf Clover, 1859), based on traditional folk tales; the time-travel fantasy novel, Paris en Amérique (Paris in America, 1863); and the fairy-tale novel Le Prince Caniche (The Poodle Prince, 1868).

Very little is known about Laboulaye and his literary accomplishments, particularly among contemporary American readers, even though he was a great admirer of American democracy, supported the anti-slavery cause of the North, wrote several books dealing with the history of America and American constitutional law, and played a key role in developing the plans for the Statue of Liberty. Further reading: Smack-Bam or The Art of Governing Men: Political Fairy tales of Édouard Laboulaye, ed. Jack Zipes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.… (mais)