Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier
Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier de Villandon was an aristocratic French writer and salonnière of the late 17th century, and a niece of Charles Perrault.Biography
She published three fairy tales early in her career. Although she wrote few thereafter, she marked the beginning of the fairy tale vogue among the Précieuses, publishing her first tale a year before her uncle, the famed author of Les Contes de ma Mère l’Oye in 1696. A great friend and protégé of Madeleine de Scudéry, L'Héritier's participation in the fairy tale genre reflected her involvement in the salon scene, as she and so many of her friends and fellow salonnières, such as Madame d'Aulnoy and Henriette-Julie de Murat, were monumental in the inception of the fairy tale genre, along with her esteemed uncle. She inherited Scudéry's salon upon her death in 1701.
