THE MODERN FAIRIES, by Clare Pollard
In her sophomore novel, “The Modern Fairies,” the British writer Clare Pollard cleverly animates the art of storytelling and its roots in French history. In the late 17th century, during the ruthless reign of Louis XIV, an eclectic group of Parisian intellectuals met frequently in a literary salon on the Rue St.-Benoit run by a divorced writer, Madame d’Aulnoy, to tell one another fairy tales. This gathering of mostly noblewomen and a handful of men made up an unofficial literary institution that established a new genre of literature. More than a century later, some of these oral fables — or “Mother Goose tales” — evolved into the Brothers Grimm classics.
In 25 discrete chapters, this artfully composed reimagining of the real salon moves episodically, cinematically through the origins of classic fairy tales such as “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella” and “Bluebeard.” Like the narrative gallop of Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet,” Pollard’s use of the present tense brings an immediacy and a velocity to these centuries-old French stories. She provides a new translation that is both female-centric and keenly alive; issues like freedom of speech, sexism and authoritarian rule percolate throughout the novel, making it feel particularly current.
Madame d’Aulnoy’s salon can also read like an early modern cousin of the M.F.A. workshop, with Pollard creating a meta-narrative through entertaining asides about the art of storytelling. Performing “The Tale of Donkey-Skin, Part One,” about a king who seeks to marry his daughter, the writer Charles Perrault thinks: “All verbal storytelling is a kind of improvisation, done on nerve, and his instincts tell him that he must get on with the plot.” (Plot! More plot!)
What could have read as a collection of disparate tales is united by Pollard’s singular focus on the community of storytellers gathered in Madame d’Aulnoy’s home. The glossary of characters at the front of the book includes Perrault, the author of “Cinderella,” “Bluebeard” and “Puss in Boots”; his cousin Télésille, who invites Perrault into this circle as a diversion from his ongoing grief over the sudden loss of his wife during childbirth; Madame Henriette, who endures physical abuse from her husband and is later arrested for her alleged involvement with Louis XIV’s daughter; and Madame Angélique and Charlotte-Rose, both having sex with the same man. There are other churning dramas involving infidelity, incest, poisoning and more. It’s a lot to follow at times, and the fairy-tale form can constrain the chapters into short, sometimes elliptical fragments, making it harder for the novel to sustain its broader arc.
