Silent Victory: Narrative, Appropriation, and Autonomy in La Princesse de Cleves
1989; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 104; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2905267
ISSN1080-6598
Autores Tópico(s)Literature: history, themes, analysis
ResumoSince its publication, and before, Mme. de Lafayette's La Princesse de Cloves has generated comment and controversy. For the most part, that initial controversy centered on the question of the plausibility of the Princesse's confession to her husband of her love for another man; however, while the ramifications of the charge of implausibility remain significant, as Nancy Miller and others have shown, it seems that the modern reader finds the Princesse's confession somehow less disturbing.' For the modern reader, the focus of debate tends to be the conclusion of the novel and the meaning of that conclusion. Is Mme. de Cleves's retreat from and renunciation of the world of the Court a victory or a defeat? Does she establish for herself a female space, a space in which she can maintain her own identity and autonomy? Or does she retire from the world merely in order to die an early death? Such questions as these have been often asked and variously an-
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