Lettres d'une Peruvienne (Vif) - Softcover

Francoise De Graffigny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0729407500 ISBN 13: 9780729407502

Publisher: Voltaire Foundation, 2003

Synopsis

This Voltaire Foundation Oxford Edition is written in French. 'Letters from a Peruvian Woman' (which is what the title translates to in English) was written in 1747 by a French authoress - Francoise de Graffigny who had been inspired to write it by Voltaire's play 'Alzire' which was set during the Spanish conquest of Peru. It's an 18th Century historical novel and looks at French society in a satirical way from an outsider's point of view. The novel is formed of a collection of letters written by an Incan princess, Zilia, to her fiancé Aza, who is also the Sapa Inca - the great one, and the letters tell the story of her capture by the Spanish Conquistadors and her rescue by French sailors and then her friendship with Deterville. This historical background for the novel of the conquest of the Incan Empire came from Inca Garcilaso de la Vega's 'History of the Incas'. Les Lettres d'une Péruvienne de Francoise de Graffigny figurent parmi les romans les plus populaires du dix-huitieme siècle, en France comme en Europe. L'histoire de Zilia, capture par des conquistadores, séparée de son amant inca, libérée et courtisée par un noble francais, était certes faite pour satisfaire le gout du siècle pour l'exotique et le sentimental. Mais c'était aussi un texte novateur et hardi qui, au-dela du sentimentalisme, explorait les problemes de communication vécus par Zilia, dans la culture francaise qui n'était pas la sienna. Combinant de facon inedited la fiction et la satire contemporaine, Graffigny crée une heroine definie autant par son intellect que par ses émotions, tout en s'appropriant un discours des Lumieres qui jusque-la n'appartenait qu'aux hommes. La fin, si controversée, donne a Zilia une independence sans précédent et remet sérieusement en question les présupposés traditionnels sur le role des femmes, aussi bien dans la littérature que dans la société

About this title

Review:

"Long denied 'classic status' by the old pedagoguery, Graffigny's only novel, excellently translated by David Kornacker, has apparently benefited from the 'canon revision' of the new." --Times Literary Supplement

"Long denied 'classic status' by the old pedagoguery, Graffigny's only novel, excellently translated by David Kornacker, has apparently benefited from the 'canon revision' of the new." --Times Literary Supplement

About the Author:

Joan DeJean's books reflect her areas of research: the history of women's writing in France (Tender Geographies: Women and the Origins of the Novel in France); the history of sexuality (Fictions of Sappho, 1546-1937); the development of the novel (Literary Fortifications; Libertine Strategies); and the cultural history and the material culture of late 17th- and early 18th-century France (Ancients against Moderns: Culture Wars and the Making of a Fin de Siecle; The Essence of Style, 2005; The Age of Comfort).

About this edition

• Publisher: Voltaire Foundation
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0729407500
• ISBN 13: 9780729407502
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 376
• Editor: Jonathan Mallinson