Marie-Catherine de Villedieu, Les Aventures ou mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière [Memoirs of the Life of Henriette-Sylvie de Molière]

Polly Mangerson (DePaul University)
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Les Mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière is a French novel published between 1672 and 1674 by Madame de Villedieu (born Marie-Catherine Desjardins, 1640-83). This unique work of fiction represents a hybridity of literary genres, being part autobiography, part picaresque novel and part epistolary novel. As such, Villedieu’s Mémoires are indicative of the evolution of both the novel and of women’s writing in seventeenth-century France.

When the first part of the Mémoires was published in 1672, Madame de Villedieu was well established as a professional writer specialized in theater, poetry, and fiction. She had already adopted the family name of …

2857 words

Citation: Mangerson, Polly. "Les Aventures ou mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 January 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35714, accessed 29 March 2024.]

35714 Les Aventures ou mémoires de la vie de Henriette-Sylvie de Molière 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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