Isabelle de Charrière - Quentin de La Tour

Self-portrait in a Straw Hat by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun

Women letter writers in early modern Europe created lengthy correspondences, where they expressed their intellect and their creativity; in the process, they also left a rich historical legacy. Over time, a large number of women's correspondences have been made the subject of publications. Some among them ignored the literary value of these missives that were sometimes circulated by their recipients. Some correspondences were, on the other hand, strictly private and their literary value—and historic value, as well—was not revealed until the rediscovery of these letters, perhaps long after the death of their authors, as in the case of Élisabeth Bégon, whose correspondence was not discovered until 1932 in the archives of the French Ministry of the Navy. It is usually agreed that what makes these letters distinctive emanates from their spontaneity. Marie de Sévigné was the incarnation of this quality, to the point of becoming considered by many as the archetype of the woman letter writer, and an altogether literary author, even among her contemporaries, such as Suzanne Curchod: In 1669, the famous ''

Letters of a Portuguese Nun The ''Letters of a Portuguese Nun'' ( French: ''Les Lettres Portugaises'', literally ''The Portuguese Letters''), first published anonymously by Claude Barbin in Paris in 1669, is a work believed by most scholars to be epistolary fiction in the f ...

'' appeared, presented as a translation of five letters sent by a Portuguese nun to a French officer. For a long time, these letters were accepted as authentic letters written by Mariana Alcoforado, before being definitively shown by a modern critic to be a work of literary fiction, attributed to

Gabriel de Guilleragues Gabriel-Joseph de Lavergne, comte de Guilleragues (1628–1684), was a French politician of the 17th century. For a time, he was secretary of the King's Chamber, and he also director of the '' Gazette de France''. In 1677, he was named ambassado ...

. The frontier between reality and fiction becomes blurry between literature and correspondence, above all when novelists turned this writing technique into a literary device that would become the

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

, a genre that reached its peak during the Enlightenment when writers tried to persuade readers that between their hands was a real correspondence, which is what

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

more or less achieved with ''

Julie, or the New Heloise ''Julie; or, The New Heloise'' (french: Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse), originally entitled ''Lettres de Deux Amans, Habitans d'une petite Ville au pied des Alpes'' ("Letters from two lovers, living in a small town at the foot of the Alps"), is ...

''.

Some famous women letter writers

Juliette Adam Juliette Adam (; née Lambert; 4 October 1836 – 23 August 1936) was a French author and feminist. Life and career Juliette Adam was born in Verberie (Oise). She gave an account of her childhood, rendered unhappy by the dissensions of he ...

Jeanne d'Albret Jeanne d'Albret (Basque: ''Joana Albretekoa''; Occitan: ''Joana de Labrit''; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572. Jeanne was the daughter of Henry II of Navarre and Margaret ...

Sophie Arnould Sophie Arnould (13 February 1740, in Paris – 18 October 1802, in Paris) was a French operatic soprano. Born Magdeleine Sophie Arnould, she studied in Paris with Marie Fel and La Clairon, and made her stage debut at the Opéra de Paris on 15 ...

Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (german: Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz), (french: Princesse Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat); known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, 27 May 1652 – 8 December 1722) was a German m ...

Louisa Dow Benton Louisa Dwight Benton ( Dow; March 23, 1831 – December 7, 1895) was a 19th-century American linguist, translator, and Women letter writers, letter writer. She became physically disabled from rheumatism, unable to walk, and lost almost the entir ...

Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon (8 November 167623 January 1753) was the daughter of Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, and Anne Henriette of Bavaria. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a '' princesse du sang''. Fo ...

Catherine de Bourbon Catherine de Bourbon (7 February 1559 – 13 February 1604) was a Navarrese regent princess. She was the daughter of Queen Joan III and King Anthony of Navarre. She ruled the principality of Béarn in the name of her brother, King Henry III ...

* Adélaïde de la Briche *

Cécile Bruyère Mère Cécile Bruyère (12 October 1845 – 18 March 1909) was the first abbess of St. Cecilia's Abbey, Solesmes (''Abbaye Sainte-Cécile de Solesmes'') and a follower of Dom Prosper Guéranger in the revival of Benedictine spirituality in 19th ce ...

* Marie-Angélique de Coulanges *

Christine de Pisan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes. Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...

Zulma Carraud Zulma Carraud (24 March 1796 – 24 April 1889) was a French author. She is best known for her children's books and textbooks particularly ''La Petite Jeanne ou le devoir'' and ''Maurice ou le travail''. Early and family life Carraud was born o ...

Marquise de Caylus Marthe-Marguerite Le Valois de Villette de Mursay, marquise de Caylus (1673–1729), was a French noblewoman and writer. Born in Poitou, she was the daughter of vice-admiral Philippe, Marquis de Villette-Mursay, and Marie-Anne de Châteauneuf, w ...

Isabelle de Charrière Isabelle de Charrière (20 October 174027 December 1805), known as Belle van Zuylen in the Netherlands, née Isabella Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll van Serooskerken, and adameIsabelle de Charrière (married name) elsewhere, was a Dutch and ...

* Anastasie de Circourt * Mary Clarke *

Sophie Cottin Sophie Cottin (22 March 1770 – 25 August 1807) was a French writer whose novels were popular in the 19th century, and were translated into several different languages. Biography Marie Sophie Ristaud (sometimes spelt Risteau) was born in March ...

Hélisenne de Crenne Hélisenne de Crenne was a French novelist, epistolary writer and translator during the Renaissance. Critics generally agree that "Hélisenne de Crenne" was the pseudonym of Marguerite Briet (c. 1510, Abbeville - after 1552), a French gentlewoman ...

* Suzanne Curchod *

Madeleine Des Roches Madeleine Des Roches (née Madeleine Neveu) (c. 1520 – November 1587) was a French writer of the Renaissance. She was the mother of Catherine Fradonnet, called Catherine Des Roches (December 1542 - November 1587), to whom she taught poetry, lite ...

Catherine Des Roches Catherine Fradonnet (December 1542 – November 1587), called Catherine Des Roches, was a French writer of the Renaissance. She was the daughter of Madeleine Des Roches, née Madeleine Neveu (c. 1520Date given by the French Wikipedia article. N ...

Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (25 September 1696 – 23 September 1780) was a French hostess and patron of the arts. Life Madame du Deffand was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolle ...

Louise d'Épinay Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

* Marie-Madeleine de La Fayette * Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin *

Françoise de Graffigny Françoise de Graffigny (''née'' Françoise d'Issembourg du Buisson d'Happoncourt; 11 February 1695 – 12 December 1758), better known as Madame de Graffigny, was a French novelist, playwright and salon hostess. Initially famous as the author o ...

* Marie-Madeleine Hachard * Anne-Catherine Helvétius *

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...

Sophie d'Houdetot Elisabeth Françoise Sophie Lalive de Bellegarde, Comtesse d'Houdetot (18 December 1730 – 28 January 1813) was a French noblewoman. She is remembered primarily for the brief but intense love she inspired in Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1757, but sh ...

* Alix de Lamartine *

Ninon de Lenclos Anne "Ninon" de l'Enclos, also spelled Ninon de Lenclos and Ninon de Lanclos (10 November 1620 – 17 October 1705), was a French author, courtesan and patron of the arts. Early life Born Anne de l'Enclos in Paris on 10 November 1620,Sources als ...

* Amélie Lenormant * Julie de Lespinasse * Blandine Liszt *

Marie Anne de Mailly Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchesse de Châteauroux (; 5 October 1717 – 8 December 1744) was the youngest of the five famous ''de Nesle'' sisters, four of whom would become the mistress of King Louis XV of France. She was his mistress from ...

* Françoise de Maintenon * Sophie de Maraise *

Marguerite de Navarre Marguerite de Navarre (french: Marguerite d'Angoulême, ''Marguerite d'Alençon''; 11 April 149221 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was a princess of France, Duchess of Alençon and Berry, and Queen ...

* Mary Montagu *

Matilda of Flanders Matilda of Flanders (french: link=no, Mathilde; nl, Machteld) ( 1031 – 2 November 1083) was Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy by marriage to William the Conqueror, and regent of Normandy during his absences from the duchy. She was t ...

* Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Mothe-Guyon *

Juliette Récamier Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Récamier (; 3 December 1777 – 11 May 1849), known as Juliette (), was a French socialite whose salon drew people from the leading literary and political circles of early 19th-century Paris. As an icon of ...

Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni (25 October 1713 in Paris - 7 December 1792 in Paris), whose maiden name was Laboras de Mézières, was a French actress and novelist. Early years She was born in Paris in 1713. Career In 1735, she married Antoine Fra ...

* Manon Roland *

Gabrielle Roy Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature. Early life Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, an ...

* Madeleine de Sablé * Madame de Saint-Huberty *

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

* Marie de Sévigné *

Marguerite de Launay, baronne de Staal Marguerite Jeanne Cordier de Launay, baronne de Staal (30 August 1684 – 15 June 1750) was a French author. Life De Launay was born in Paris. Her father was a painter named Cordier. He seems to have deserted her mother, who then resumed her mai ...

Germaine de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël (), was a French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzan ...

* Sophie Swetchine *

Claudine Guérin de Tencin Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin, Baroness of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (27 April 1682 – 4 December 1749) was a French salonist and author. She was the mother of Jean le Rond d'Alembert, who later became a prominent mathematician, '' philosophe ...

* Marie-Anne de La Trémoille *

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

Jane Vigor Jane Vigor (née Goodwin) (1699 – 6 September 1783) (other married names: Ward, Rondeau) was an English letter writer, best known for her "Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia, to her Friend in England ...", written when she was ...

* Sophie Volland

References

Sources

*Lettres de femmes: textes inédits et oubliés du XVIe au XVIIIe", (éd.) Elisabeth C. Goldsmith and Colette H. Winn, Paris, H. Champion, 2005, 448 p. * ''L’épistolaire au féminin : correspondances de femmes, XVIIIe au XXe'', (éd.) Brigitte Diaz, Jürgen Siess, Caen, Presses universitaires de Caen, 2006 * Marie-France Silver, Marie-Laure Girou-Swiderski, ''Femmes en toutes lettres : les épistolières du XVIIIe", Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 2000 * Josée Chomel, Philippe Chomel, Michel Cabaud, ''Madame de Sévigné à Grignan, une épistolière en Provence'', Lyon, Aubanel, 1996 * Lionel Duisit, ''Madame Du Deffand, épistolière'', Genève, Droz, 1963 * Daniel Des Brosses, ''La Palatine : l’incorrigible épistolière aux lettres'', Paris, France, 2004 * Rodolphe Trouilleux, ''N’oubliez pas Iphigénie : biographie de la cantatrice et épistolière Sophie Arnould, 1740-1802'', Grenoble, Alzieu, 1999 * Sophie Marcotte, ''Gabrielle Roy épistolière'', Ottawa, Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2003 * Catherine Blondeau, '' Julie de Lespinasse épistolière", 1761-1776'', Lille, A.N.R.T, Université de Lille III, 1994 * Josette Chéry-Sobolewski, '' Madame Riccoboni épistolière'', Paris, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1993 * Mireille Bossis, Charles. A. Porter, ''L’épistolarité à travers les siècles : geste de communication et/ou geste d’écriture'', Stuttgart, Franz Steiner, 1987

Some famous women letter writers

References

Sources

See also