Madame Du Deffand And Her World

by TeresaWaugh (Translator), Benedetta Craveri (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2002

  $14.17

  Madame du Deffand (1696-1780) was a minor French aristocrat who, bored by her marriage, threw herself into scandalous relationships with leading noblemen, including the French Regent. She later re-invented herself as a highly successful salonniere, her salon being frequented by leading thinkers of the day. She also maintained very witty, perceptive correspondences with Voltaire (whose letters back are full expositions of his philosophy) and later with Horace Walpole with whom she fell deeply in love, much to his shock.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $12.46

  This biography of Madame du Deffand describes the life of this highly intelligent libertine and the role she played in the social and cultural life of 18th-century France. Quoting extensively from her subject's correspondence, Craveri attempts to relive the world of the philosophes of the Enlightment, centred around Voltaire and d'Alembert, and unravels a complex world of extreme intelligence, taste and sensibility, revealing a new view of reality, full of foreboding for the future. Gifted with destructive insight, and dominated by obsessive boredom, Madame du Deffand tended towards cynicism and wariness in her opinion of men, ever-fearful of being disappointed by others. When she became old and blind, she developed a passion for the young English writer Horace Walpole, son of the Prime Minister. The author has been awarded the Viareggio and Comisso prizes in Italy and the Prix de Meilleur Livre Etranger in France for this biography.