The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-10 00:00:00

LITE.RA7'U.RE.

French Women of lettere ; Biographical Sketches.
By Julia Kavanagh, author of " Nathalie,"
"Adele," &c. Two vols. Hurst and Blackett.
We have here a work which the nature of
the subject, the merits of the style, and the reputa-
tion of the authoress, cannot fail to render popular.
Miss Kavanagh's name has been so long and so
favourably known to the public as an authoress of
eminent ability, that any work from her pen is
naturally regarded with interest, and her intimate
acquaintance with French life and literature qualify
her in an especial manner for the task which she has
now chosen. The novels of "Nathalie" and " Adele,"
as well as the charming tale of "Madeleine," are
all French in scenery and character, while Miss
Kavanagh has shown herself familiar with graver
studies, in her satisfactory performance of the diffi-
cult and delicate delineation of the (i Women of
France in the Eighteenth Century." The work
before us combines, in a singular degree, the interest
of fiction with the attraction of careful and discri-
minating criticism. It disinters from the dust of
long years of oblivion the lives and works of those
sparkling, pathetic, or sentimental writers who
once influenced the taste of their time and re-
flected the manners of the age. The women of
letters referred to in these pages are without ex-
ception novelists, and Miss Kavanagh's object has
been to show haw greatly women have contributed
to the formation of the modern novel in the French
and English literatures. Her selection has been
guided, she tells us, by great celebrity, original
power, and individual attraction. No living
writers are included in her list, the most modern
name being that of Mme. de Stael. It is by rea-
son of their recent deaths, we suppose, that she has
omitted to notice two distinguished writers of our
own day, Mme. Guizot and Mme. Girardin. The
plan she has adopted is to give a short biographical
sketch, with the outline of that individual history
which so often explains and ascounta for much in
the author's writings, and then to proceed to
analyse her works and criticise their merits. In
most cases she gives a summary of the plot of the
chief novel, with extracts from the best scenes, and
thus the reader who probably knows no more of
Mlle. Scudery's " Grand Cyrus," or Mine. de Genlis
"Rash Vows," than their names, is able to
familiarise himself with the style and cha-
racters of their writings, and to compare
one with another. Commencing her volumes with
Mlle. de Gournay, the adopted daughter of Mon-
taigne, Miss Kavanagh gives us next a full ac-
count of the life and writings of Mlle. de Scudery,
one of the most famous novelists of the seventeenth
century. The authoress cites her name as a striking
instance of the vicissitudes of literary fame. " Her
ti;zy volumes of poetry and prose were the delight
of the most exquisitely polished society France has
yet known. They were translated into every Euro-
pean language, and found their way, it is asserted,
into Eastern tongues." Princes and men of let-
ters, fastidious critics and indolent fine ladies,
watched with eager interest for every one of the
ten volumes of a work which took years to appear.
" And now," she goes on to say, "it would take
years, a lifetime, perhaps, to collect a complete
edition of Mlle. de Scudery's works in that city
where her fame reached its fulness." The cadses
assigned for this decadence are three: the length of
her tales, the representation of Greeks and Assyrians
with the manners and feelings of the French of the
sixteenth century ; and lastly, the ridicule of
Boileau and Moliere, which Miss Kavanagh shows
to have been unjustly severe. The plot of these
long-forgotten novels is brought before us, and
their merits and deficiencies pointed out with a
skilful and discriminating hand. The wild and
singular career of Madame de Krudener, now chiefly
remembered by her influence over the Emperor
Alexander, is told further on in the work, and it is
curious to observe how often the ladies spoken of
have founded their romances on the events of their
own private lives. This seems as strange to our
English notions as the interesting suicides so long
fashionable in Continental romance. Mme. Ricco-
boni, an authoress of some celebrity:in the eighteenth
century, has the questionable honour of being
one of the first to introduce this termination.
In this particular, es in some others, we
' must admit the earlier writers have the
advantage over those of our own day. Mme.
Cottin, best known by her charming "Eliza-
beth, or the Exiles of Siberia," also fills a place in
this chronicle, but the two chief lives in the second
volume are naturally those of Mme. de Geniis and
Mine. de Stael. The eventful and chequered life of
the former lady is ably told, and the strangein-
consistencies of her not very estimable character are
shown. Mme. de Stal is evidently high in favour
with her critic, who is never so satisfactory,
• however, when she touches on politics. Her
portrait of lime. de Stael herself is very ably
. drawn. We congratulate Miss Kavanagh on hav-
ing invested an extinct branch of literature with
fresh and vivid interest, and with having compiled
an agreeable and well-written book out of many
tedious and uncared-for volumes.