Mme de Lafayette, and La Princesse de Cleves, (1678) the innocent precursor of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. (1782)
Madame de Lafayette has reached, among contemporary female French teenagers, probably the same cult status as Jane Austen. A recent stage adaptation of La Princesse de Cleves,’ the cautionary tale of a beautiful princess whose life, and innocence, are destroyed by an adulterous love affair, stresses the modern resonance of many of the key themes: both chivalry and misogyny, as well as virtue, deceit, and even hints of bisexuality.
Modern Adaptation
The performance was staged in the Theatre de Lucernaire in Paris in December, and all the parts were read by a woman posing as the omniscient Madame de Lafayette who, she felt, was really more interesting than the inexperienced young lovers she portrayed in her book. She believed that the work’s strength lay in the authority of the writer’s informed opinions on the intricacies of human relationships. Perhaps it is this, and not the play on unrequited love and court politics, that have led to the book’s enduring popularity?
