Description
Book SynopsisHere she made her way into the heart of literary society in the heyday of the Enlightenment, wrote a novel – the
Lettres d’une Péruvienne (1747) – that made her an international celebrity, wrote a play –
Cénie (1750) – that ranked among the ten most successful new plays of the century, and became a noted salon hostess.
Trade Review'This is a very good book, thoroughly researched and admirably well written.'
Modern Language Review
'It is impossible to separate Graffigny’s life (and thus her biography) from her correspondence, but in its quotidian minutiae, a correspondence, even one as personal, rich and continuous as Graffigny’s, cannot present a coherent overview. With his intimate knowledge of all her writings, Showalter provides the necessary perspective. His biography navigates through the correspondence and other documents to give shape and direction to Graffigny’s life, highlighting how her struggle for independence paralleled her development as an author and how her social gifts for forming friendships and intellectual bonds with many of the period’s renowned authors, philosophes, and playwrights helped her create the network and support crucial to succeed as a writer, a dramatist and a salonnière.'
French Review
Table of ContentsList of illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. A childhood in Lorraine
2. Marriage and widowhood
3. From Lunéville to Paris
4. Paris and the duchesse de Richelieu
5. Alone in Paris
6. A room of her own
7. Back from the brink of failure
8. Becoming a writer
9.
Lettres d’une Péruvienne10. The rewards of fame
11. Changes and endings
12. Mentor and author
13.
Cénie14. Minette and Helvétius
15. The salon of Mme de Graffigny
16. After
Cénie, author and mentor
17. Devaux
18. Mme de Graffigny’s last year
19. Posterity
List of works cited
Index
