Beauty and the Beast – The Original Story

"Wolfgang’s edition and translation of Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s Beauty and the Beast stands out as an exemplary piece of scholarship that renders a great service not only to those scholars, teachers, and students interested in women writers but to the profession at large. Wolfgang’s translation perfectly captures the style, tone, and verve of the French, preserving the early modern flavor while remaining pleasurable and easy to read. It is one of the best English translations of an early modern text that I have encountered. . . . This is such a high-quality edition and translation of a woman’s text that it has the potential to inspire new research in early modern women’s writing and spark the interest of students and even the broader public. Wolfgang’s edition can change the way the twenty-first century public views the fairy tale genre as well as women’s position in literary history”. -- Faith E. Beasley * Women's Writing *
"Wolfgang’s translation and edition represent an invaluable resource for students at all levels—I plan to draw from the introduction and notes for undergraduate students in my general education fairy-tale course—as well as for scholars. The translation along with the critical apparati come together to immerse the reader within Villeneuve’s world, helping us make connections between Beauty’s cup of chocolate and transatlantic trade, between the Beast and earlier literary characters, and between Beauty herself and the heroine of the frame narrative on her way to marry a man she does not know in Saint-Domingue. The introduction and notes bring to the fore the ways in which questions of gender, race, class, and empire intertwine throughout Villeneuve’s version of Beauty and the Beast, shedding important light on the history of a canonical tale." -- Anne E. Duggan * Marvels & Tales *
"This volume offers a complete and clearly rendered translation accompanied by a suggestive critical apparatus. Much of the introduction places eighteenth-century author Villeneuve in the context of seventeenth-century literature, but Wolfgang’s presentation certainly makes possible future scholarly investigation into resonances between Villeneuve’s text and others of her time. . . . In the end, Wolfgang has achieved the fundamental goals of a translator and editor of early modern texts: she has made an old work available to new readers in a way that is sure to inspire more research on this text and its author." -- Rori Bloom * Eighteenth-Century Fiction *
"Wolfgang’s comprehensive introduction restores Villeneuve to her place as a valued author of eighteenth-century literature, a follower of the first vogue of fairy tales, and a late précieuse well aware of the novelties of the global world being born in her time. Her excellent translation pays tribute to the originality of Villeneuve’s literary work within the tradition of the genre." * Eighteenth-Century Studies *