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Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne (Comtesse de Lafayette) (1634-1693) was a French writer. She was born in Paris to a family of minor but rich nobility. In 1655, de La Vergne married François Motier, Comte de Lafayette, a widowed nobleman some eighteen years her senior, with whom she would have two sons. Settling permanently in Paris in 1659, Lafayette published, anonymously, La Princesse de Montpensier in 1662. Her most famous novel was La Princesse de Clèves, France's first historical novel, first published anonymously in 1678. An immense success, the work is often taken to be a prototype of the early psychological novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
From the moment of her arrival into the court of Henry II, the Prince of Clèves is stricken by the extraordinary beauty of the young Mademoiselle de Chartres. The desire to marry the young woman is not entirely within his control, but the various social considerations, alliances and protocol of position are eventually overcome. They are married, but the Prince fears that his new wife isn't capable of demonstrating the same depth of feeling that he has for her. To her surprise however, the new Princess de Clèves discovers that those feelings do eventually arise within her, but they are not for her husband, but a fervent and persistent admirer, the Duc de Nemours.
Thereafter there follows an elaborate game of dissemblance between the Princess and the Duc, each of them longing to explore these feelings and know what the other is feeling while keeping their emotions controlled within the accepted rules of Court etiquette, protocol and propriety. To fail to do so and have their secret known could mean ruin in the eyes of the elevated society they frequent, but each are no more capable of hiding their feelings from each other than they are from avoiding the gossip of the Royal Court. Worse still, the longer those feelings persist, the more difficult it becomes for Madame de Clèves to keep them hidden from her husband, and the consequences there can potentially be even more devastating.
Written in 1677, La Princesse de Clèves is one of the classics of French literature and on a par with Cloderlos de Laclois' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, similarly getting to the heart of the violent conflicting emotions involved in affairs of the heart. It's a historical romance that accurately describes the workings and the personalities of the Royal Court of Louis XIV, the novel taking in many various intrigues that involves marriage alliances with English and Spanish royaly, but they only add to the complexity of the relationships in the central romance. So powerfully and with such veracity are those barely suppressed emotions and romantic inclinations described, that the novel remains a timeless classic.
Thereafter there follows an elaborate game of dissemblance between the Princess and the Duc, each of them longing to explore these feelings and know what the other is feeling while keeping their emotions controlled within the accepted rules of Court etiquette, protocol and propriety. To fail to do so and have their secret known could mean ruin in the eyes of the elevated society they frequent, but each are no more capable of hiding their feelings from each other than they are from avoiding the gossip of the Royal Court. Worse still, the longer those feelings persist, the more difficult it becomes for Madame de Clèves to keep them hidden from her husband, and the consequences there can potentially be even more devastating.
Written in 1677, La Princesse de Clèves is one of the classics of French literature and on a par with Cloderlos de Laclois' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, similarly getting to the heart of the violent conflicting emotions involved in affairs of the heart. It's a historical romance that accurately describes the workings and the personalities of the Royal Court of Louis XIV, the novel taking in many various intrigues that involves marriage alliances with English and Spanish royaly, but they only add to the complexity of the relationships in the central romance. So powerfully and with such veracity are those barely suppressed emotions and romantic inclinations described, that the novel remains a timeless classic.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My husband bought this for me for my birthday - I wanted to read it after hearing Nicolas Sarkozy complaining about its use in Civil Service entry exams in France.
It was an interesting read. It is obviously a very early novel, possibly the first ever historical novel, and the characters are largely based on real people, excluding the eponymous heroine. She is stranded in a world she is little prepared for and her first experiences of love, marital, courtly, are far from positive. The court gossip and the 3 courts (that of the King, the Queen and the wife of the Dauphin) and their petty rivalries are fascinating...just like reading "Paris Match" or "Hello"!
I really enjoyed it for what it was - a chance to read an outstanding novel whose subject is timeless. For the amateur historian and francophile alike. It's a very short read (only 129 pages), and well worth it.
It was an interesting read. It is obviously a very early novel, possibly the first ever historical novel, and the characters are largely based on real people, excluding the eponymous heroine. She is stranded in a world she is little prepared for and her first experiences of love, marital, courtly, are far from positive. The court gossip and the 3 courts (that of the King, the Queen and the wife of the Dauphin) and their petty rivalries are fascinating...just like reading "Paris Match" or "Hello"!
I really enjoyed it for what it was - a chance to read an outstanding novel whose subject is timeless. For the amateur historian and francophile alike. It's a very short read (only 129 pages), and well worth it.
Format:Paperback
From the moment of her arrival into the court of Henry II, the Prince of Clèves is stricken by the extraordinary beauty of the young Mademoiselle de Chartres. The desire to marry the young woman is not entirely within his control, but the various social considerations, alliances and protocol of position are eventually overcome. They are married, but the Prince fears that his new wife isn't capable of demonstrating the same depth of feeling that he has for her. To her surprise however, the new Princess de Clèves discovers that those feelings do eventually arise within her, but they are not for her husband, but a fervent and persistent admirer, the Duc de Nemours.
Thereafter there follows an elaborate game of dissemblance between the Princess and the Duc, each of them longing to explore these feelings and know what the other is feeling while keeping their emotions controlled within the accepted rules of Court etiquette, protocol and propriety. To fail to do so and have their secret known could mean ruin in the eyes of the elevated society they frequent, but each are no more capable of hiding their feelings from each other than they are from avoiding the gossip of the Royal Court. Worse still, the longer those feelings persist, the more difficult it becomes for Madame de Clèves to keep them hidden from her husband, and the consequences there can potentially be even more devastating.
Written in 1677, La Princesse de Clèves is one of the classics of French literature and on a par with Cloderlos de Laclois' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, similarly getting to the heart of the violent conflicting emotions involved in affairs of the heart. It's a historical romance that accurately describes the workings and the personalities of the Royal Court of Louis XIV, the novel taking in many various intrigues that involves marriage alliances with English and Spanish royaly, but they only add to the complexity of the relationships in the central romance. So powerfully and with such veracity are those barely suppressed emotions and romantic inclinations described, that the novel remains a timeless classic.
Thereafter there follows an elaborate game of dissemblance between the Princess and the Duc, each of them longing to explore these feelings and know what the other is feeling while keeping their emotions controlled within the accepted rules of Court etiquette, protocol and propriety. To fail to do so and have their secret known could mean ruin in the eyes of the elevated society they frequent, but each are no more capable of hiding their feelings from each other than they are from avoiding the gossip of the Royal Court. Worse still, the longer those feelings persist, the more difficult it becomes for Madame de Clèves to keep them hidden from her husband, and the consequences there can potentially be even more devastating.
Written in 1677, La Princesse de Clèves is one of the classics of French literature and on a par with Cloderlos de Laclois' Les Liaisons Dangereuses, similarly getting to the heart of the violent conflicting emotions involved in affairs of the heart. It's a historical romance that accurately describes the workings and the personalities of the Royal Court of Louis XIV, the novel taking in many various intrigues that involves marriage alliances with English and Spanish royaly, but they only add to the complexity of the relationships in the central romance. So powerfully and with such veracity are those barely suppressed emotions and romantic inclinations described, that the novel remains a timeless classic.
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