Who Was Graffigny
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FRANÇOISE DE GRAFFIGNY AND THE SEQUELIZATION PHENOMENON DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Elizabeth C. Appleby, M.A., J.D. * * * * The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Karlis Racevskis, Advisor Professor Danielle Marx-Scouras Advisor Professor Geoffrey Turnovsky Department of French and Italian Copyright by Elizabeth C. Appleby 2005 ABSTRACT The Lettres d’une Péruvienne by Françoise de Graffigny was a popular novel in eighteenth-century France. Nevertheless, many of its readers were left dissatisfied and troubled. They felt that the ending, which left the heroine happily unmarried, left them expecting more. In fact, they did not feel the novel was concluded at all, and that it needed to be finished. The authors of sequels to the Lettres d’une Péruvienne were more than happy to comply. Although Graffigny published two editions of the novel, she refused to change the ending. Her strong desire to conclude with an independent and happy heroine is evidence of her wish to convey a philosophical message about the role of women in eighteenth- century society to her contemporaries, who for the most part did not grasp the novel’s implications. Five sequels and several adaptations appeared on the market during the Eighteenth Century. The mere existence of so many adaptive works is an indication of Graffigny’s widespread influence. To one degree or another, all of these literary follow-ups modify Graffigny’s ending in keeping with traditional literary norms, in which the heroine either marries or passes away. The tendency of other writers to overlook the inherent message in Graffigny’s work while ultimately forcing her conclusion into line with a conservative worldview is strong evidence of the innovative quality of her work. Through their efforts to negate ii Graffigny’s philosophical message, the writers of sequels ultimately confirm her status as a femme philosophe. iii Dedicated to my parents, Ray, and Carl iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Karlis Racevskis, for his steady support and encouragement. His willingness to read numerous rough drafts and provide insightful and inspiring suggestions was invaluable. I am also grateful to him for stimulating my interest in eighteenth-century literature. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Williams, who worked with me closely in preparing my prospectus, but who could not continue to advise me for health reasons. I would also like to extend my warmest gratitude to Danielle Marx-Scouras and Wynne Wong for their encouragement, guidance, and friendship throughout the years, and to Geoffrey Turnovsky for his careful reading of my final drafts of this document. I would also like to thank the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University for the thorough training they provided in both teaching and research. I am grateful to Diane Birckbichler for creating an open, friendly and supportive atmosphere in the department, and for her encouragement and advice during my job search. I would also like to extend my sincerest thanks to Patty Burba, Jodi Obert, and Marlyn Price for their friendly enthusiasm and patience. Finally, I am grateful to Barbara Jones for encouraging my interest in French language and literature during my undergraduate years at Seton Hill College, and also to Yves Citton who introduced me to the Lettres d’une Péruvienne and Françoise de Graffigny while I was at the University of v Pittsburgh. Most of all, I am grateful to my parents, my brother, and Carl for their love and patient support in all aspects of my life. vi VITA December 7, 1966……………………… Born – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1989……………………………………… B.A., Seton Hill College, Greensburg, Pennsylvania 1992……………………………………… J.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2000……………………………………… M.A., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2000 – present………………………….. Graduate Teaching Associate Department of French and Italian The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: French and Italian vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract………………………………………………………………………… ii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………… v Vita…………………………………………………………………………….. vii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………. x Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 1 Chapters: 1. Françoise d’Happoncourt de Graffigny: Stages of her Life and Legacy………………………………………………. 7 The Lorraine Connection………………………………………………… 9 Paris……………………………………………………………………….. 16 Literary Formation………………………………………………………... 21 Graffigny’s Legacy………………………………………………………... 31 2. Lettres d’une Péruvienne: a Contemporary Perspective…………...……. 42 Lettres d’une Péruvienne Bestseller!…………………………………… 46 Making a Determination of Popularity………………………….. 46 Public Appeal of the Lettres d’une Péruvienne……………….. 50 Contemporary Reactions………………………………… 54 Consequences of Celebrity……………………………………… 70 3. Reader’s Expectations and Literary Reactions……………………………. 73 The French Sequels……………………………………………………… 80 The First Sequel (1747)…………………………………………. 80 Lettres d’Aza ou d’un Péruvien (1748)…………………………. 86 Lettres d’Aza: Courmont’s reply to Graffigny………….. 89 viii Graffigny’s reply to Courmont…………………………… 93 The Last Sequel (1797)………………………………………….. 97 The Foreign Sequels……………………………………………………… 106 The English Sequel (1774)………………………………………. 106 The Spanish Sequel (1792)……………………………………... 111 Graffigny’s 1752 Edition Of the Lettres D’une Péruvienne…………… 115 Faith and Happy Endings………………………………………………… 118 4. Graffigny, femme philosophe? ……………………………………………... 126 Lettres d’une Péruvienne and its Precursors………………………….. 127 What is a philosophe ? ………………………………………………….. 139 Graffigny Philosophe and the Sequelization Phenomenon………….. 153 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………… 155 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1……………………………………………………………………………………. 121 x INTRODUCTION The life of Françoise de Graffigny is interesting and complex. After surviving an unhappy and violent marriage, which completely destroyed her financial security, she attached herself to the ducal court of Lorraine. When the court dispersed in 1738, she wended her way to Paris. On the way, she spent several months with Voltaire. In Paris, she became part of a vibrant literary society at the height of the Enlightenment, and eventually a noted author. Her novel, the Lettres d’une Péruvienne, was an instant success and catapulted her to fame. It was translated into several languages and was what we would call today a “best seller,” being read extensively throughout Europe. Nevertheless, she was poor throughout her life and constantly struggled with finances. Fifty years after her death, interest in Françoise de Graffigny’s work faded. She became an obscure eighteenth-century French author whose work was practically unknown. The record of her work, however, persisted in libraries and private collections. In the second half of the Twentieth Century she came once again to be read with relish by scholars throughout the world, and this interest continues today. Her works have been republished in French and English and once again, although this time posthumously, she is an international success. One of the most interesting things about Graffigny’s novel is the reaction it produced among its readers. Many of them were dissatisfied because the 1 heroine refused to marry at the end of the story and because she did not die of love or pine away for her lover, but instead chose an independent and happy life. Her heroine also refused to accept the Christian religion. Many of Graffigny’s contemporaries criticized this ending, suggesting a variety of alternative conclusions. Others felt compelled to complete the story by writing their own conclusions in the form of sequels. According to Paul Budra and Betty A. Schellenberg, “the sequel has become an almost-predictable footnote to the narratives of Western History.”1 They believe that “the sequel is not unique, but uniquely representative in its extreme typicality.”2 Yet, “[v]irtually nothing has been written about the phenomenon.”3 This dissertation is motivated in part by this gap in literary scholarship and more extensively by the exciting flow and counter-flow of ideas in Grafigny’s novel and its sequels. In short, this dissertation is about the many sequels of the Lettres d’une Péruvienne, how they relate to Graffigny’s life and times, and to how they prove that she was indeed an important figure in the Enlightenment. For the most part, the sequels to Graffigny’s novel rework her conclusion in accordance with traditional literary models, in which the heroine marries or dies at the end of the novel. It seems, then, that the drive to “correct” Graffigny’s conclusion is indicative of deeply rooted cultural trends concerning women and their roles in fiction. In his book, La Destinée feminine dans le roman européen 1 Paul Budra and Betty A. Schellenberg, Introduction, Part Two: Reflections on the Sequel (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998) 3. 2 Budra and Schellenberg 3. 3 Budra and Schellenberg 7. 2 du dix-huitième siècle: 1713-1807, Pierre Fauchery speaks of a collective attitude toward women that can be drawn from the eighteenth-century European novel. En définitive, il est bien peu de ces œuvres qui, prises sous l’angle approprié, ne nous livrent quelques parcelles d’un message collectif sur la femme. C’est donc la quasi-totalité du roman du XVIIIe siècle qui sera appelée en témoignage, dans la mesure où, s’appuyant sur une vision