25 August 2026
Speaker: Mr. Côme Carpentier
Chair: Maj. Gen. Dhruv Katoch
The 14th Katha Session was held at the India Foundation Conference Hall, India Habitat Centre, on 25 August 2026 on the theme “French Tales and Legends.” The session was chaired by Maj. Gen. Dhruv Katoch, Director, India Foundation, and witnessed the participation of 55 attendees.
The session was delivered by Mr. Côme Carpentier, Distinguished Fellow, India Foundation. He has served since 2003 as Convener of the Editorial Board of World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, and has lived, travelled, and lectured across more than fifty countries on four continents. He has authored several books and over two hundred articles and essays on the philosophy of science, geopolitics, international relations, and the history of civilisations.
In his presentation, Mr. Carpentier traced the tradition of French fairy tales and legends, centring his discussion on the work of Charles Perrault, the seventeenth-century writer widely regarded as a founding figure of the literary fairy tale. Drawing on period engravings and archival plates, he took the audience through three of Perrault’s best-known tales: La Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty), Peau d’Âne (Donkey Skin), and La Barbe bleue (Bluebeard).
The session provided participants with insight into the origins and afterlife of the French fairy-tale tradition and its place in the broader European literary imagination. The presentation was followed by an interactive discussion.
