charms

Mis à jour: 9 juillet 2025

The old order of fiction had indeed already fallen into contempt; Boileau and others had dealt it fatal blows, but the finishing stroke was justly due to Mme. de La Fayette. And the world has ever gladly owned its debt to her. La Princesse de Clèves is an historical romance. The historical interest is, however, the least of its charms.

Madame de (Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne) La Fayette - La Princesse De Clèves par Mme de La Fayette : Edited with Introduction and Notes

This unfortunate princess had passed her exiled youth in the convent of Chaillot; and Mme. de La Fayette, going thither on frequent visits to a kinswoman, was drawn into intimacy with the young girl, who must even then have given evidence of those charms which later made her brief reign at Court as brilliant as it was unhappy.

Madame de (Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne) La Fayette - La Princesse De Clèves par Mme de La Fayette : Edited with Introduction and Notes