Happily Ever After?

      Gabriel Garcia Marquez transformed the original version of Sleeping Beauty, tiled Sun, Moon, and Talia, written by Giambattista Bastille into a modern version with the story, Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane. Unfortunately, a very important expectation of all fairytales is missing in this rewrite. In Sleeping Beauty and the Airplane there is no 'happily ever after.' The story ends as the beautiful woman picks her things up and exits the airplane. The man who has been admiring her then remains in his seat with unfulfilled wants and no happy ending. If Marquez was working to bring the original version into modern time, but did not include a 'happily ever after' in the story, does that mean there is no such thing as happy endings in real life?

      One woman, Alisa Bowman, does believe that there are happy endings in real life.  In 2010 she wrote a book, titled Project: Happily Ever After.  The book tells the story of the trials and tribulations in her marriage, and her work towards a 'happily ever after.'  Bowman along with friends and family, believed the marriage between her and her husband was hopeless.  But, with the help of relationship and marital books, the couple was able to fall in love all over again.  Her story as been featured on many large cable broadcasting shows, and her website, http://www.projecthappilyeverafter.com/, is full of information for struggling couples.  Bowman is a real life example of a 'happily ever after.'

      Marquez left a 'happily ever after' out of his story, but Bowman clearly presents they can be found in real life.  I believe that Marquez did not include a 'happily ever after' because more often then not, it does not happen.  He did not want to leave the reader with the false hope, that everything always works out.  Although sometimes it does, as in Bowman's case, but it takes a lot more work to reach that ultimate real life 'happily ever after' then can be written about in a single fairytale.


Bowman, Alisa. Project: Happily Ever After. Philadelphia: Running, 2010. Project Happily Ever After. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. <http://www.projecthappilyeverafter.com/the-book/>.

Realism wins over readers for centuries

After Madame Countess d’Aulnoy left France, due to a scandal between d’Aulnoy’s mother and husband, she returned to Paris several years later looking for a fresh start.  She found a fresh start as she began her writing career.  d’Aulnoy, born in Normandy in 1650 or 1651, had a difficult childhood as her father died when she was young.  But, she was taught many languages, gained knowledge of many types of literature, and developed a love of Norman folktales, when she was educated by her aunt shortly after her father’s death.  This introduction to literature at an early age contributed to her ability to give the reader exactly what they were looking for in a story, realism.

d’Aulnoy was able to give the people the realism they wanted by linking her novels to events relevant to the time period.  As referenced in The Dictionary of Literary Biography, d’Aulnoy used the global interest in the death of Marie-Louise d’Orleans to base her novel, Memories de la cour d’Espagne. (Stedman, 2003)  d’Aulnoy recognized the popularity of d’Orleans death and was able to convert it into a story that people would want to read. d’Aulnoy did this once again with the novel, Le Nouveau Gentilhomme bourgeois.  The Dictionary of Literary Biography writes that, d’Aulnoy, “plays on the rising insecurities of the French aristocracy” (Stedman, 2003).  This novel was written during a time of economic trouble in France.  d’Aulnoy created characters that had the same these same monetary difficulties as the people.  By providing the people with stories that they could relate to, d’Aulnoy was able to gain popularity.


Out of all her works, d’Aulnoy’s most popular was Les Contes de fees, a collection of fairytales.  Fairytales were a new genre for d’Aulnoy, but she once again succeeded in pleasing the public; the novel was immediately popular, and continues to be her best known work.    An Answers.com article states that the popularity of her fairytales can be attributed to the use of “sentimental realism” (Seifert).  d’Aulnoy’s stories focus a lot on the emotions of the characters, making them more realistic to the reader.  By once again creating realistic scenarios and characters, d’Aulnoy’s fairytales became her most successful works.



d’Aulnoy was able to convert events from her personal life and those of society into well written novels. This use of realistic depiction of characters and events that the public could relate to, led to her being a memorable French writer.

Works Cited

Stedman, Allison. "Marie-Catherine Le Jumel De Barneville Comtesse D’Aulony (1650 or 1651-1705)". Seventeenth-Century French Writers. Ed. Francoise Jaouen. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 268. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 12-18. Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online. Gale. University of New Hampshire. 20 February 2011 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/DLBC_Online/durh54357/BK1560055003>.

Seifert, Lewis C. "Marie-Catherine Le Jumel De Barneville Aulnoy: Information from Answers.com."Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. <http://www.answers.com/topic/marie-catherine-le-jumel-de-barneville-aulnoy>.