The Princess of Cleves (Norton Critical Editions)

by Lafayette, Marie-Madeleine de; Lyons, John D.

• ISBN13: 9780393963335
• ISBN10: 0393963330
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-11-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of Thomas SargentPerry's 1892 translation, indisputably the translation that has bestserved readers in English. Reprinted repeatedly over the last onehundred years, the Perry translation is a classic in its own right.After careful review, the editor has corrected minor infelicities oftranslation (necessary to remain true to Lafayette's text) and updatedvocabulary. To experience the innovation of Lafayette's writing, it is necessary tounderstand the critical resistance it met with in seventeenth-centuryFrance. "Contemporary Reactions" includes five assessments of The Princess ofClèves'”by Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette herself, Roger de Bussy-Rabutinand Marie de Sévigné, Jean-Baptiste-Henry du Trousset de Valincour,Jean-Antoine de Charnes, and Du Plaisir'”following its controversialpublication. John Lyons's translations for this Norton Critical Editionmake these reactions available in English for the first time. "Criticism" includes eleven modern studies of the novel, five of whichappear here in English for the first time, by Jean Fabre, Michel Butor,Jean Rousset, Helen Karen Kaps, Gérard Genette, Roger Francillon, KurtWeinberg, Peggy Kamuf, Erica Harth, Joan DeJean, and Laurence Gregario. A Glossary of Characters and a Selected Bibliography are also included.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	ix
The Text of The Princess of Cleves	1	(118)
Editor's Afterword: Secret History and the History of Secrets	109	(10)
Contemporary Reactions	119	(24)
Madame de Lafayette to Joseph Marie de Lescheraine [It is not a romance]	121	(1)
Roger de Bussy-Rabutin to Marie de Sevigne [An Impartial Reading]	121	(1)
Marie de Sevigne to Roger de Bussy-Rabutin	122	(1)
Jean-Baptiste-Henry du Trousset de Valincour Letters to the Marquise---about The Princess of Cleves	123	(13)
Jean-Antoine de Charnes [A King of Enchantment]	136	(1)
Du Plaisir [These Little Histories]	137	(6)
Criticism	143	(144)
The Art of Analysis in The Princess of Cleves	145	(10)
Jean Fabre
On The Princess of Cleves	155	(4)
Michel Butor
Presence and Absence of the Author	159	(5)
Jean Rousset
Baroque or Classic?	164	(14)
Helen Karen Kaps
Plausibility and Motivation	178	(8)
Gerard Genette
Novelistic Perspective and Structure of the Narrative	186	(5)
Roger Francillon
The Lady and the Unicorn, or M. de Nemours at Coulommiers	191	(15)
Kurt Weinberg
A Mother's Will	206	(24)
Peggy Kamuf
An Official `Nouvelle'	230	(10)
Erica Harth
Lafayette's Ellipses: The Privileges of Anonymity	240	(29)
Joan DeJean
The Gaze of History	269	(18)
Laurence Gregorio
Glossary of Characters	287	(8)
Selected Bibliography	295