Bibliography
Oct. 30th, 2011 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilySelected Letters of Madame de Sévigné, edited by H. T. Barnwell
Gosh, over a month since I last posted a bibliography update - and mainly because it has taken me so long to plough through this. As you may know, Madame de Sévigné is famous for her letter writing during the seventeenth century, which is supposed to be unusually vivid and which also records some periods of importance for French history.
Well, I'm afraid that the amazing character which is supposed to come through the letters never came through to me. It may be a matter of translation or lack of contextual knowledge, of course, but frankly I just didn't feel as if I connected with the woman herself. There were a couple of passages which dealt with spiritual matters and gripped me, but in the main I just didn't quite get the letters. Which is a shame, as Madame de Sévigné is supposed to be one of the great treats of epistolary writing, and she just didn't meet the expectations I had. I think I may have been spoilt by Baron von Hügel, if I'm honest.
That said, this was a useful bit of material to read in the context of Hope Mirrlees' Madeleine: One of Life's Jansenists, which is written in this period and focuses on Madame de Scudéry, who appears with semi-frequency in de Sévigné's letters. But even with the feeling that I was filling in some gaps in my knowledge, I'm afraid I still feel as if I am missing something.
Gosh, over a month since I last posted a bibliography update - and mainly because it has taken me so long to plough through this. As you may know, Madame de Sévigné is famous for her letter writing during the seventeenth century, which is supposed to be unusually vivid and which also records some periods of importance for French history.
Well, I'm afraid that the amazing character which is supposed to come through the letters never came through to me. It may be a matter of translation or lack of contextual knowledge, of course, but frankly I just didn't feel as if I connected with the woman herself. There were a couple of passages which dealt with spiritual matters and gripped me, but in the main I just didn't quite get the letters. Which is a shame, as Madame de Sévigné is supposed to be one of the great treats of epistolary writing, and she just didn't meet the expectations I had. I think I may have been spoilt by Baron von Hügel, if I'm honest.
That said, this was a useful bit of material to read in the context of Hope Mirrlees' Madeleine: One of Life's Jansenists, which is written in this period and focuses on Madame de Scudéry, who appears with semi-frequency in de Sévigné's letters. But even with the feeling that I was filling in some gaps in my knowledge, I'm afraid I still feel as if I am missing something.
