L′Honnête Femme – The Respectable Woman in Society and the New Collection of Letters and Responses by Contemporary Women

Aurora Wolfgang is Professor of French at California State University, San Bernardino. She is author of Gender and Voice in the French Novel, 1730–1782 (Ashgate, 2004) and numerous articles on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century women writers and feminist issues. Sharon Diane Nell is Professor of French and Dean of the School of Humanities at St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas. She is the author of numerous articles on topics that range from the early modern period to Proust. Her current research focuses on the development of French rococo style from seventeenth-century ideology.

• Acknowledgments xviiIntroduction 1L’Honnête femme: The Respectable Woman in Society. Selected Essays (1632–36) Part One 41Part Two 112Part Three 163New Collection of Letters and Responses from Contemporary Women (1635) 195Appendix: Complete Tables of Contents of Selected Editions of L’Honnête femme 305Bibliography 311Index 323

"I heartily recommend this translation and edition of the two works by Jacques Du Bosc. The introduction provides a solid, erudite entry to Du Bosc and his world, with a clear emphasis on the gender issues central to the Other Voice. Especially good is the detailed study of the reception of these works. Moreover, the translation is clear and readable. A great deal of work was required to transform the periodic sentences and paragraphs of seventeenth century French prose into an English work that is so readable and lucid for a contemporary reader who is not a specialist in the field. The long, informative titles to the essays and letters (already transparent in the table of contents) further situate material that can seem obscure to a contemporary reader. The informative notes, especially the biographical tags and the excellent use of Furetière to explore ambiguous or archaic phrases, illuminate a world that would otherwise seem opaque to many contemporary readers."