Cinderella's slippers: the dichotomy of fur and glass – and – Performance art and the re-odorization of modern consciousness

“Cinderella’s Slippers” revisits the argument that Charles Perrault, the first writer to publish Cinderella in print form in 1697, allegedly mistranslated the tale, which was relayed to him in French, mistaking Vair (fur) for Verre (glass). The essay inserts a feminist critique of the glass slippers by demonstrating tones of implicit misogyny and making observations that link Perrault’s deliberate adaptation with the cultural and architectural history of Seventeenth century France. It also explores the metaphoric symbolism of fur and glass connecting them with Friedrich Nietzsche’s dichotomy of the Dionysian and the Apollonian. --and-- “Performance Art” explores the notion that the smells used by artists in works of live Performance Art create shifts in consciousness for viewers and practitioners. The essay also addresses smell as a primal sense that evokes “feminine” or Dionysian perceptions of reality, a trigger of involuntary memory, and a device for social critique.