Jeanne Marie Leprince de Beaumont

Life & Legacy

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (French: [ʒan maʁi ləpʁɛ̃s də bomɔ̃] ⓘ; 26 April 1711 – 8 September 1780) was a French writer who wrote the best-known version of Beauty and the Beast, an abridged adaptation of the 1740 fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. Born to a middle-class family, she was raised alongside her younger sister, Catherine Aimée. Both were provided education at a convent school and stayed on as teachers. Rather than remain and take her vow as a nun, she left for Metz, France, and became a governess for a prominent family in a court in Lunéville. As a long-time educator, she became well known for her written works on behavior and instructional teaching for young women. Her interest in the genre of education contributed to her inclusion of fairytales to teach moral behavior.
Although she was a successful writer for her time, her works as a pedagogue sometimes shadowed her publishing on topics of socio-political issues. Within many of her other works, she discussed reform for the roles of women in society. She urged women to become active political participants by providing them with literary instruction on how to become instrumental citizens.
Her contributions to children's literature and the folklore genre have gained her popularity and influence as a female writer of the eighteenth century.