The Sun. — 1861-12-10 (London, England)

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 reputation 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 difficult 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 discriminating 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 reflected the manners of the age. The women of letters referred to in these pages are without exception 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 reason 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 characters of their writings, and to compare one with another. Commencing her volumes with Mlle. de Gournay, the adopted daughter of Montaigne, Miss Kavanagh gives us next a full account 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 European language, and found their way, it is asserted, into Eastern tongues." Princes and men of letters, 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. Riccoboni, 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 "Elizabeth, 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 strangeinconsistencies 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 having 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.