Entre lettres et portraits: Madame Du Deffand, auteur?

Abstract

My subject is about a famous woman who lived during the eighteenth century, Marie Du Deffand (1696-1780).

During the eighteenth century, Madame Du Deffand was well known mostly because she was an important "salonnière". Her "salon" was one of the most frequented by the philosophers, and the scholars who wanted to be well seen in society. Also, during this century, letters were very important in the `'salon'' because they were both a way of social communication and a way for literary creation.

In my thesis, I will show how Madam Du Deffand was a remarquable woman of the eighteenth century whose story needs to be told. In fact, even though she always refused to publish, her perceptive portraits of her contemporaries and her correspondence with Voltaire and Horace Walpole could be considered as work which distinguish her and give her the status of an author.