Making the Marvelous: Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Henriette-Julie de Murat, and the Literary Representations of the Decorative Arts by Rori Bloom (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Making the Marvelous: Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Henriette-Julie de Murat, and the Literary Representations of the Decorative Arts by Rori Bloom Kathryn R. Bastin Bloom, Rori. Making the Marvelous: Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Henriette-Julie de Murat, and the Literary Representations of the Decorative Arts. U of Nebraska P, 2022. Pp. vii- 236. ISBN 978-1-4962-2267-1. $65.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-4962-3173-4. $65.00 (eBook). Finely wrought and incisive, Rori Bloom's evocative Making the Marvelous invites us to reconsider material culture in the late-seventeenth-century texts of Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy and Henriette-Julie de Murat through five chapters. Bloom makes an invaluable contribution to fairy tale studies with her monograph, positing these two female French uniquely positioned artisans and writers as the true makers of art during the Grand Siècle. While scholars in the past have shown that artists and writers used their encomiastic work to praise Louis XIV as divine and supreme ruler, Bloom argues that d'Aulnoy and Murat operate as "outsiders" (2) and they aim to invite readers to admire the complex process of creating. Bloom ultimately reveals that the marvelous, through these two writers, is crafted as art by human hands (24). Bloom's twenty-four-page introduction solidly situates the reader in the field of fairy tale studies. Bloom also illustrates that while the work of both professional authors valorizes the "decorative arts in Old Regime France," there is marked difference, which is evidence of the "idiosyncratic treatment of specific aesthetic issues by each author" (19). In Chapter One, "Fairy Tale as Palace Tour: Description and Setting," Bloom delineates that both d'Aulnoy and Murat subordinate narrative to descriptive prose. While both authors reflect aspects of the opulence of Versailles through their descriptions, their work is not synonymous with panegyric texts of the era and each author shows a preference for small, intimate spaces that emphasize the skill it took to craft such space rather than its cost or its public, political use, thus calling attention to "delicacy" over "grandeur" (55). In Chapter Two, "Stories That Illustrate Themselves: Description and Painting," Bloom shows how d'Aulnoy and Murat employ ekphrastic writing to question aesthetics and the very nature and limits of visual representation. D'Aulnoy and Murat wrote "as if they were painting" (60), and Bloom shows, through a careful examination of their frequent evocations of portraiture (a smaller, less prestigious genre), that d'Aulnoy and Murat elevated their own writing in the more minor fairy tale genre. Of special interest is Bloom's work on singeries, or paintings of simians aping human pastimes in decorative arts, thus showing how important animals were to the visual arts of the seventeenth century. Noteworthy, too, is Bloom's nuanced analysis of Murat's use of color in her tales, often evoking fiery or aquatic scenes, or stunning bright white spaces, showing "bold experimentation with visual perception" (87). Finally, an examination of chiffres (ornamental initials) in Murat's tales evinces a depersonalization and [End Page 151] decentering of narrative in favor of the decorative. It is in this chapter that d'Aulnoy and Murat become "theoreticians" of art. Chapter Three, "Essential Accessories: The Object as Objet d'art," shows how fashion accessories, toys, and their detailed descriptions "embellish the structure" of the fairy tales in a way that mirrors d'Aulnoy and Murat's entire project as authors and makers of the marvelous. Importantly, Bloom once again shows that both Murat and d'Aulnoy celebrate the craftsperson but also the person that uses the accessories or toys, recognizing the creativity of both producer and elite consumer (129). The latter portion of the book divagates from fairy tales and analyzes a travel narrative and two novels. Chapter Four, "D'Aulnoy's Travels in Spain: Description and Demystification" shows how d'Aulnoy's account of her experiences in Spain prefigures the descriptive focus of her fairy tales and their "earthiness," or rootedness in material culture and reality (133). D'Aulnoy ultimately aims to show that French decorative art and literature are superior, and she positions herself as an "arbiter of taste" (154). Chapter Five, "Disenchanted Decors in...