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Book Synopsis
The duc de Saint-Simon's memoirs of the last decades of Louis XIV's reign and the regency of Philippe d'Orleans are considered a masterpiece of the genre and one of the glories of French literature. His accounts of the dramatic events he witnessed have informed historians for generations, while his literary portraits have influenced French authors from Sainte-Beuve to Proust. In 1721 Saint-Simon travelled to Spain as Ambassador Extraordinary to solicit the hand of a Spanish princess for the young king Louis XV. Although his mission comes very late in his long narrative, that experience looms large in his account of earlier events, hidden in plain sight, and enriched by it. The nineteenth-century essayist Sainte-Beuve dubbed Saint-Simon 'the little duke with the penetrating eye'. Readers of this book can decide for themselves how penetrating an eye the little duke could bring to bear on his contemporaries, and on himself.

Saint-Simon in Spain 1721-1722: An Odyssey

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    A Paperback / softback by Vincent Pitts

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      Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group
      Publication Date: 22/03/2022
      ISBN13: 9781914414305, 978-1914414305
      ISBN10: 1914414306
      Also in:
      Biography Biography: general Biography: historical, political and military

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      The duc de Saint-Simon's memoirs of the last decades of Louis XIV's reign and the regency of Philippe d'Orleans are considered a masterpiece of the genre and one of the glories of French literature. His accounts of the dramatic events he witnessed have informed historians for generations, while his literary portraits have influenced French authors from Sainte-Beuve to Proust. In 1721 Saint-Simon travelled to Spain as Ambassador Extraordinary to solicit the hand of a Spanish princess for the young king Louis XV. Although his mission comes very late in his long narrative, that experience looms large in his account of earlier events, hidden in plain sight, and enriched by it. The nineteenth-century essayist Sainte-Beuve dubbed Saint-Simon 'the little duke with the penetrating eye'. Readers of this book can decide for themselves how penetrating an eye the little duke could bring to bear on his contemporaries, and on himself.

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