Charles Perrault

About Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault (1628–1703) was a prominent French author and poet during the reign of Louis XIV, often regarded as the father of the modern fairy tale. His enduring historical importance, reflected in his MIT Pantheon HPI Rank of #668, stems primarily from his collection Histoires ou contes du temps passé (Tales of Mother Goose), which popularized classic stories like 'Cinderella,' 'Sleeping Beauty,' 'Puss in Boots,' and 'Little Red Riding Hood' for a sophisticated, literary audience.

For a figure of this historical significance, Perrault's contemporary online attention is relatively modest. In 2025, his Wikipedia page accrued 182K annualized views. This level of attention places him closely in line with his expected attention (an Attention Gap of ~1x), suggesting neither a massive surge nor a severe neglect based on his importance score. However, to put this in context, a contemporary writer like Umberto Eco, ranked just #673 in importance, still drew more than double Perrault's traffic at 425K views, while Virginia Woolf (#929 importance) drew 1.4 million views.

The data indicates a slight cooling of interest in Perrault; his 2025 views declined by -5.6% year-over-year, and his Q1 vs Q3 momentum showed a -11% dip, suggesting his foundational stories are not seeing a recent cultural resurgence online.