Romance La Fayette, Madame de: La Princesse de Clèves [French/Français], v1, 18 October 2009.

[Patricia]

La Fayette, Madame de (Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette), [1634-1693]
La Princesse de Clèves (1678)

Wikipedia:
L’action se déroule, entre octobre 1558 et novembre 1559, à la cour du roi Henri II.
Mademoiselle de Chartres, jeune fille de seize ans élevée par sa mère selon de rigoureuses règles de morale, paraît pour la première fois au Louvre. Le prince de Clèves, ébloui par sa beauté, la demande en mariage. Mademoiselle de Chartres accepte ce mariage de raison. Plus tard, la Princesse de Clèves rencontre M de Nemours, un coureur de jupons. Naît entre eux une passion immédiate et partagée, à laquelle sa mère, Madame de Chartres la conjure de renoncer : « Ne craignez point de prendre des partis trop rudes et trop difficiles, quelque affreux qu’ils vous paraissent d’abord : ils seront plus doux dans les suites que les malheurs d’une galanterie. »
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Prin...de_Cl%C3%A8ves

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[zelda_pinwheel]

oh my. i had to read this book for school but i hadn't thought about it in a long time. i think i will try it out and see what i think of it now. thanks, patricia !

[Patricia]

I hope that you like it, Zelda. It begins rather slowly, but has some beautiful descriptions and character analysis.

Your President is not fond of the novel:

In 2009, the novel became a symbol of opposition to President Sarkozy's restructuring of the French Education system. Mr Sarkozy had declared that the French system was so ridiculous and dusty that civil service entrance exams had included questions on La Princesse de Clèves. His comments were interpreted as an indication of his opinion that universities should prepare people for life in business, and not 'waste' time with such things as literature (he had made several other similar comments). As a result, during the long movement of university lecturers in 2009 against his proposals, public readings of La Princesse de Clèves were held in towns around the country. Sales of the novel rose rapidly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Prin...de_Cl%C3%A8ves

Incidentally, I uploaded an English translation some time ago.