The Palace of Vengeance: Tales of Enchantment

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Henriette-Julie de Castelnau, Comtesse de Murat (1670-1716) was one of the leading authors of tales of enchantments crafted in the literary salons peripheral to the court of Louis XIV in the 1690s which ultimately gave birth to a large sector of modern fantasy fiction. The Comtesse’s earlier stories are set in the time of the fays, a remote mythical past, but her later ones take place contemporaneously in countries that are only separated pseudogeographically from France.Her stories are remarkable for the imaginative extravagance of their plots; the superbly surreal depiction of magical civilizations, the extreme trials to which she subjects her heroes and heroines, caused by jealous rivals intent on breaking the amorous bond between them, and their often deliberately atypical conclusions.

This collection presents thirteen novellas and short stories published between 1698 and 1710. It includes her masterpiece, The Goblins of Kernosy Castle (1710), a surprisingly sophisticated work for its time and remarkably modern in its lightly humorous tone and ingenious intricacy.