History as Art: Ironic Parody in Anatole France's Les Sept Femmes de la Barbe-Bleue

France uses these parodies of fairy tales and folk legends to mock scholarly and scientific methodology and to demonstrate that historical commentary is not only irrelevant but also impossible. He deliberately alters the basic elements of his models, confusing fidelity to the original tale with historical veracity. By altering the reader's concept of fiction, then, he consequently alters the concept of reality. France's irony is not limited to his protagonists. All irony depends on a collaboration between reader and author, but France does not allow his reader an entirely privileged position since the stories depend on the manipulation of the reader's preconceptions. This study analyzes France's critical attitudes and stylistic techniques with specific reference to the title story, "Les Sept Femmes de la Barbe-Bleue." (DWL)