That is, I've run across references to La Fontaine many times in my life--and so could make the connection to "fairy tales"--but never bothered to research him until now. I wasn't even sure what he wrote!
La
Fontaine was a 17th century fabulist, which is a great word that means
"guy who creates, writes, and rewrites fables" but sounds like a
character pretending to be a real person.
Jean
de La Fontaine was a real person. He precedes the writers of Beauty &
the Beast but belongs in the same tradition: an interest in folklore
from an antiquarian and poetic standpoint. At one point, his tales were assigned to his son, much as Laura Ingalls Wilder's books were attributed to her daughter, though later historians reject (both) assumptions.
His
fables were drawn from multiple sources, including Aesop. They are
presented in verse unlike Aesop's brief anecdotes. Unlike with original
Aesop, the morals are included in the verse. As with Grimm and likely Aesop, La Fontaine's fables were originally aimed at an older
audience and then adapted for children.
Other than the political machinations underlying La Fontaine's admittance to the Académie Française (I have long held that humanities folks are some of the most "clique-ish" folks out there)...that's about all I have to say about La Fontaine.
My opinion of animal-based fables about human foibles hasn't changed much since I started this list: that is, I'll take a human or a human-animal hybrid any day over purely animal protagonists, even animal protagonists in dress.
Beatrix Potter is an exception, which exception I will address when I reach the "P"s.
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