Marie-Madeleine, comtesse de La Fayette
(baptized March 18, 1634, Paris?died May 25, 1693, Paris) was a French writer whose
La Princesse de Cleves
is a landmark of French fiction.
In
Paris
during the civil wars of the Fronde, young Mlle de la Vergne was brought into contact with Madame de Sevigne, now famous for her letters. She also met a leading political agitator, the future Cardinal de Retz. Married in 1655 to Francois Motier, comte de La Fayette (1616?83), she lived for some time with him on his estates in the province of Auvergne. In 1659, however, they separated, and she returned to Paris.
Throughout the 1660s Madame de La Fayette was a favourite of
Henrietta Anne of England
, duchesse d’Orleans. During this time she also began what was to be a lasting and
intimate
friendship with La Rochefoucauld, author of the famous
Maximes.
With him she formed a distinguished literary circle. After producing two conventional romances, she wrote her masterpiece,
La Princesse de Cleves
,
published anonymously in 1678. Set in the middle of the 16th century, though its manners are those of the author’s own time, it is notable as
France’s
first serious “historical”
novel
, as distinct from “heroic” romances. It is the story of a virtuous young wife who suppresses her passion for a young nobleman. Its outstanding literary merits are the dignified
pathos
of the
dialogue
and the author’s psychological insight into the theme of tragically but deliberately unconsummated love.