A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King : Letters of Liselotte von der Pfalz, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d' Orléans, 1652-1722
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Here at last is one the great texts of the 17th century presented so as to make it available to the modern public." -- Washington Post Book World
" The letters, translated from German by Elborg Forster, are accompanied by an excellent introduction and a `Cast of Characters' as informative as any scholar could want. For the general reader they are probably the most lively and entertaining when they deal with the personalities of Louis XIV and his family." -- Louis Auchincloss, New York Times Book Review
"A most illuminating, fascinating, and interesting volume." -- Alfred J. Bingham, Historian
Book Description
On 16 November 1671, Liselotte von der Pfalz, the nineteen-year-old daughter of the Elector of Palatine, was married to Philippe d'Orléans, "Monsieur," the only brother of Louis XIV. The marriage was not to be a happy one. Liselotte (known in France as Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orléans, or "Madame") was full of intellectual energy and moral rigor. Homesick for her native Germany, she felt temperamentally ill-suited to life at the French court. The homosexual Monsieur, deeply immersed in the pleasures and intrigues of the court, shared few of his wife's interests. Yet, for the next fifty years, Liselotte remained in France, never far from the center of one of the most glorious courts of Europe. And throughout this period, she wrote letters -- sometimes as many as forty week -- to her friends and relatives in Germany. It is from this extraordinary body of correspondence that A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King has been fashioned. As introduced and translated by Elborg Forster, the letters have become the remarkable personal narrative of Liselotte's transformation from an innocent, yet outspoken, girl into a formidable observer of great events and human folly.
A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King : Letters of Liselotte von der Pfalz, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d' Orléans, 1652-1722
A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King: Letters of Liselotte von der Pfalz, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d' Orléans, 1652-1722,Elisabeth Charlotte,The Johns Hopkins University Press,0801856353,Biography / Autobiography,Europe - France,Europe - General,France - History,Historical - General,History,History: World,Women,Biography: general,European history: c 1500 to c 1750,France,Medical / History,Rank & titles
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