Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Conventions
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: From the Late Medieval to Madame de Lafayette
- 1 Late Medieval Precursors to the Novel: ‘aucune chose de nouvel’
- 2 Cultural Transmission and the Early French Novel
- 3 The Rise of the Novel in Sixteenth-Century France?
- 4 The Evolution of the Novel System in the Long Seventeenth Century
- 5 Seventeenth-Century French Women Writers and the Novel: A Challenge to Literary History
- 6 Madame de Lafayette and La Princesse de Clèves as Landmark
- Part II The Eighteenth Century: Learning, Letters, Libertinage
- Part III After the Revolution: The Novel in the Long Nineteenth Century
- Part IV From Naturalism to the Nouveau Roman
- Part V Fictions of the Fifth Republic: From de Gaulle to the Internet Age
- Index
- References
6 - Madame de Lafayette and La Princesse de Clèves as Landmark
from Part I - Beginnings: From the Late Medieval to Madame de Lafayette
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2021
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Conventions
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Beginnings: From the Late Medieval to Madame de Lafayette
- 1 Late Medieval Precursors to the Novel: ‘aucune chose de nouvel’
- 2 Cultural Transmission and the Early French Novel
- 3 The Rise of the Novel in Sixteenth-Century France?
- 4 The Evolution of the Novel System in the Long Seventeenth Century
- 5 Seventeenth-Century French Women Writers and the Novel: A Challenge to Literary History
- 6 Madame de Lafayette and La Princesse de Clèves as Landmark
- Part II The Eighteenth Century: Learning, Letters, Libertinage
- Part III After the Revolution: The Novel in the Long Nineteenth Century
- Part IV From Naturalism to the Nouveau Roman
- Part V Fictions of the Fifth Republic: From de Gaulle to the Internet Age
- Index
- References
Summary
A landmark orients, signals a turning point, indicates a boundary. Lafayette’s La Princesse de Clèves (1678) was immediately recognized, both by those who disliked it and those who appreciated it, as announcing a new approach to plot structure, representation of society, plausibility (or its lack), and character development. Later the terms ‘psychology’ and ‘analysis’ were used to point to the narrative’s approach to portraying the feelings and thoughts of the protagonist. One of the most obvious ways in which the text distinguishes itself from other novels of its period is its brevity. This quality gives it particular staying-power as a landmark, making it useful in school curricula as an example of the literature of its period—though this use risks skewing the view of seventeenth-century novels by presenting a striking, innovative exception, as the norm. Because landmarks indicate boundaries, they can serve as symbols of the territories they define. La Princesse de Clèves serves today as a marker of the cultural tradition of France itself. It is thus at the centre of debates about the literary canon and of national identity. For both the seventeenth century and for the twenty-first, Lafayette’s work fuels debate.
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- The Cambridge History of the Novel in French , pp. 113 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021