The Princess of Montpensier (novella)
Encyclopedia
The Princess of Montpensier is a short story or novella by Madame de La Fayette, published anonymously in 1662, just after her La Princesse de Clèves
- both tell of adulterous love affairs where the heroine falls in love with someone other than her husband. It is considered as a classic French novella and was adapted for film in 2010 under the same title
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It is highly probable its author knew the people who inspired the novel's events and that it is a record of real events, but to avoid being criticised for writing a roman a clef
she transposed the characters and plot of an intrigue that occurred in the court of Louis XIV of France
into the era of Catherine de Médicis and the house of Valois. Although her characters come from the French nobility, their magnificence does not hide their actions' prosaic reality - the author's depiction of the heroine is particularly dark.
La Princesse de Clèves
La Princesse de Clèves is a French novel which was published anonymously in March 1678. It is regarded by many as the beginning of the modern tradition of the psychological novel, and as a great classic work. Its author is generally held to be Madame de La Fayette.The action takes place between...
- both tell of adulterous love affairs where the heroine falls in love with someone other than her husband. It is considered as a classic French novella and was adapted for film in 2010 under the same title
The Princess of Montpensier
The Princess of Montpensier is a 2010 French period romance film directed by Bertrand Tavernier, inspired by a short story anonymously published by Madame de La Fayette. It stars Mélanie Thierry in the title role, alongside Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson and Raphaël...
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It is highly probable its author knew the people who inspired the novel's events and that it is a record of real events, but to avoid being criticised for writing a roman a clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
she transposed the characters and plot of an intrigue that occurred in the court of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
into the era of Catherine de Médicis and the house of Valois. Although her characters come from the French nobility, their magnificence does not hide their actions' prosaic reality - the author's depiction of the heroine is particularly dark.