Correspondance de madame de Graffigny, numéro 6, 23 octobre 1744-10 septembre 1745 : lettres 761-896

Françoise d'Happoncourt de Graffigny gained celebrity as the author of Lettres d'une Péruvienne (1747), a work whose popularity spanned almost a hundred years and produced over 130 editions, reprints, and translations. Despite Graffigny's tremendous success during her own time, nineteenth-century scholars relegated her work to oblivion. No new editions of Lettres d'une Péruvienne appeared between 1835 and 1966. In 1993, the MLA Texts and Translations series made Graffigny's novel available again to a wide reading public. Now with the publication of Graffigny's Correspondance, the talented team of editors headed by J. A. Dainard are reconstructing her life, literary milieu, and century. This correspondence is part of a collection of 2,500 letters all written to her friend François-Antoine Devaux, nicknamed Panpan, who was living in Lorraine while Graffigny resided in Paris (for the most part). Spanning the years 1733-1758, the letters will constitute fourteen volumes when complete. The letters are richly glossed; the editors' annotations provide invaluable biographic, historic, and lexicographic information. Devaux's letters are cited only when necessary to illuminate Graffigny's. The editors provide helpful indexes of names and locutions. The Correspondance maintains Graffigny's phonetic spelling and idiosyncratic expressions, which make the letters endearing, yet nonetheless, highly readable. This collection, with its plethora of information about the world of letters and private life in eighteenth-century France, will be a great resource for scholars of literature, history, and culture.

In the earlier volumes of the Correspondance, Graffigny recounts how she separated from her violent husband who had spent her dowry. In order to survive, she was forced to seek the protection of a series of powerful noblewomen who employed her as a companion. This life did not suit her, however, for she desired a room of her own and control of her own time. In 1739, when she moved to Paris as the companion of the duchess of Richelieu, she gained entry into the Parisian literary milieu. There, Graffigny developed a passion for the theater and avidly read all the latest literary and philosophic works. By 1744, she had her own home in Paris and had launched her literary career. Historical events of the period provide rich backdrops to her letters, such as the return of Louis XV from Metz and his near fatal illness; the banishment and then recall of Mme de Chateauroux, his mistress; the festivities celebrating the marriage of the Dauphin and the Infanta of Spain; and the appearance of the King's new favorite, the future Marquise de Pompadour.

Graffigny herself best summarized the pleasure of such letters when commenting on Mazarin's: "Il est tres vray que les letres, tant mauvaises soient-elles, se font toujours lire et que, quand elle ne diroient que l'histoire d'une vie aussi commune que les notres, on liroit que l'on s'est levé, chaussé, vetu, diné, soupé, etc." [It is very true that letters, no matter how bad they are, are always readable, even when they only tell the story of a life as common as ours; people will read that someone got up, put on his shoes, got dressed, lunched, dined, etc.] (327). Although Graffigny's life was far from common, her letters to her dearest Panpan do emphasize the daily concerns of her existence. We read of her worries about money, her problems with servants and friends, and her frequent bad health (she was going through menopause). But beyond Graffigny's material and physical difficulties, close to half of her letters express her joy of books, conversation, and the daily companionship of her many friends. Writing to her "Panpichon," however, was her most reliable pleasure.

Volume Six will interest literary scholars seeking to understand Graffigny's development as a writer. During 1744 and 1745, Graffigny devoted herself to literary creation; she spent most of her time reading, writing, and critiquing literature, going to the theater or wishing she could, and attending the "Monday" salon of Jeanne Quinault, which was called the "Bout-du-Banc" and was frequented by Caylus, Crebillon fils, Duclos, Helvétius, and Marivaux . In 1744, she contributed her Nouvelle espagnole to the Recueil de ces Messieurs, which was the story most highly praised by the public. Graffigny worked assiduously on her numerous writing projects, noting: "Je retouche sans fin et sans cesse" [I revise continually and unceasingly] (222). Soon after finishing her Nouvelle, Graffigny contributed a parodic fairy-tale, La Princesse Azerolle, to the Cinq Contes de fées, edited by Caylus. She and "Nicole" or Mlle. Quinault (everyone has a pet or code name in her letters) spent much time editing Devaux's play, Les Portraits, which was accepted by the Théâtre Français. Moreover, Graffigny's female bookseller brought unpublished manuscripts for Graffigny to read and review (180). After the success of her Nouvelle, Graffigny's confidence as a writer grew and she set her own writing standards. Speaking of Azerolle, she wrote: "Personne n'y a mis la pate que moi. Tu vois que je n'ai pas mal fait. S'il est m[i]eux que la Nouvelle, c'est que la Nouvelle est la premiere et celle-ci la seconde, et qu'une troisieme sera peut-etre encore mieux" [No one touched it but me. You see, I did pretty well. If it is better than the Nouvelle, that's because the Nouvelle was the first and this one is the second, and a third one will perhaps be even better] (222).

The third would be her best-seller, Lettres d'une Péruvienne. In mid-1745, she began secretly writing Zilie, its early title, and what would become her theatrical hit, Cénie. Like most women of the eighteenth century, Graffigny expressed ambivalence about her status as an author. When sending La Nouvelle espagnole to Devaux, she urged him to tell his parents that it was just "un badinage de societé, car je serois desolés qu'on crut que j'ecris de ma bonne volonté pour etre auteur" [a society game, because I would be distressed for others to believe I wrote it with the desire to be an author] (37). Nonetheless, Graffigny was proud of having crafted a new writing style since she had left Lorraine. Devaux found her "stile bien changé: c'est du noir au blanc" [style quite changed: it's gone from black to white] (40). Indeed, Graffigny's letters resemble in no way those of her famous heroine Zilia. Graffigny's letters are intimate, colorful, and colloquial as opposed to the noble, elevated style she cultivated in her works. She did not seek glory in writing, she said, but enjoyed when friends recognized and praised her style in her anonymous publications.

Graffigny and Devaux, two long-time devoted and platonic friends, do not fit eighteenth-century gender stereotypes. Graffigny emerges as the more aggressive, competent, and realistic of the two correspondents. She noted: "J'ai toujours eu l'ame plus forte et plus decidée que la tiene" [My mind has always been stronger and more decisive than yours] (101). Graffigny's letters are assertive, even combative, when discussing literary matters. Devaux was her student in questions of style and taste, especially concerning his play that he could not bear to revise. Devaux preferred to indulge his passion for designing elegant coin purses for his friends rather than undertake the arduous task of rewriting. Anxious to see his play produced, Graffigny finally offered to do the editing in his name. "Tu es donc plus femme que jamais" [You are more of a woman than ever], Graffigny regularly chided him (264). Devaux responded by mocking her literary ambitions, which she disavowed, calling her "Madame l'academicienne" [Madame the Academician] (538). Refuting his accusations, Graffigny warned: "Ne t'avise donc plus de m'apeller Dacier, vilain pedant; je suis La Fayete afin que tu le sache" [Stop calling me Dacier [a renowned classical woman scholar], vile pedant, I am La Fayette [the famous novelist] if you must know" (315). Beyond the banter, however, Devaux was a supportive, admiring friend who was the cornerstone of Graffigny's well being.

Graffigny's Correspondance sheds new light on the author's character and the radical choices she made for her Peruvian princess who wants to evade the social duties of le monde to retreat to her study, just as Graffigny wanted to do. Displaying the true temperament of a woman of letters, Graffigny pondered: "Que ferois-je donc de mon gout pour la solitude, s'il n'etoit fondé sur le degout des hommes et sur le plaisir que me font leurs ouvrages?" [What would I do with my taste for solitude, if it weren't based on my dislike of men and the pleasure their works give me?] (63). Fortunately for her eighteenth-century correspondents and her twenty-first century readers, this taste for solitude gave rise to the pleasure of her own works, especially her letters. This team of editors should be commended for their expert editing of this fascinating and monumental correspondence.