In the following essay, Lewis analyzes Perrault's writings with respect to Cartesian ideas about visualization and self-sensation, arguing that Perrault simultaneously—and ingeniously—resisted and appropriated René Decartes' insights.

In the essay below, de Dobay Rifelj analyzes the similarities in the ways Perrault and the Marquis de Sade viewed and represented women in their writings, finding the female characters passive and weak.

In the following essays, Morgan analyzes Perrault's development of the prose conte (tale) in relation to other prose and verse forms of the era, and offers reasons for Perrault's lasting literary significance.

In the following essay, Méchoulan discusses themes of food and orality in several of Perrault's tales in the context of contemporary religious and political concepts of the body.

In the following excerpts, McGlathery provides a comparative analysis of themes in tales by Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Giambattista Basile.