Isabelle de Charrière
Encyclopedia
Isabelle de Charrière known as Belle van Zuylen in the Netherlands
and Madame de Charrière elsewhere, is a Dutch writer of the Enlightenment
who lived the latter half of her life in Switzerland
. She is now best known for her letters although she also wrote novels, pamphlets, music and plays. She took a keen interest in the society and politics of her age, and her work around the time of the French Revolution is regarded as being of particular interest.
in the Netherlands, to Diederik Jacob van Tuyll
van Serooskerken (1707–1776), and Helena Jacoba de Vicq (1724–1768). Her parents were described by the British author James Boswell
as "one of the most ancient noblemen in the Seven Provinces" and "an Amsterdam lady, with a great deal of money". Isabelle was the eldest of seven children.
In 1750, Isabelle was sent to Geneva
and travelled through Switzerland
and France
. Having spoken only French for a year, she had to relearn Dutch on returning home to the Netherlands. However, French would remain her preferred language for the rest of her life, which helps to explain why, for a long time, her work was not as well known in her country of birth as it otherwise might have been.
Isabelle enjoyed a much broader education than was usual for girls at that time, thanks to the liberal views of her parents who also let her study subjects like mathematics. By all accounts, she was a gifted student.
As she grew older, various suitors appeared on the scene only to be rejected. She saw marriage as a way to gain freedom but she also wanted to marry for love. Eventually, in 1771, she married Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière de Penthaz, the former tutor of her brothers. Since then she was known as Madame de Charrière. They settled at Le Pontet in Colombier (near Neuchâtel) in Switzerland. They also spent significant amounts of time in Neuchâtel, Geneva and Paris.
and Benjamin Constant
.
In 1760, Isabelle met David Louis de Constant d'Hermenches (1722–1785), a married Swiss officer regarded in society as a Don Juan. After much hesitation, Isabelle's need for self-expression overcame her scrupules and, after a second meeting two years later, she began an intimate and secret correspondence with him. Constant d'Hermenches was to be one of her most important correspondents.
The Scottish writer James Boswell
was a frequent visitor to Castle Zuylen in 1764 and became a regular correspondent for several years. After leaving the Netherlands, going on Grand Tour
, he wrote her that he was not in love with her. She replied: "We agree, because I have no talent for subordination".
In 1766 he proposed to her after meeting her brother in Paris.
In 1786, Mme de Charrière met Constant d'Hermenches' nephew, the writer Benjamin Constant
in Paris. They began an exchange of letters that would last until the end of her life.
Her first novel, Le Noble, was published in 1762. It was a satire against the nobility and although it was published anonymously, her identity was soon discovered and her parents withdrew the work from sale.
In 1784 she published two novels, Lettres neuchâteloises and Lettres de Mistriss Henley publiée par son amie. Both were epistolaries, a form she continued to favour. In 1788, she published her first pamphlets about the political situation in the Netherlands.
As an admirer of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau
, she assisted in the posthumous publication of his work, Confessions
, in 1789. She also wrote her own pamphlets on Rousseau around this time.
The French Revolution
caused a number of nobles to flee to Neuchâtel and Mme de Charrière befriended some of them. But she also published works criticising the attitudes of the aristocratic refugees, most of whom she felt had learned nothing from the Revolution.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Madame de Charrière elsewhere, is a Dutch writer of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
who lived the latter half of her life in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. She is now best known for her letters although she also wrote novels, pamphlets, music and plays. She took a keen interest in the society and politics of her age, and her work around the time of the French Revolution is regarded as being of particular interest.
Early life
Isabella Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll van Serooskerken was born in Castle Zuylen near UtrechtUtrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
in the Netherlands, to Diederik Jacob van Tuyll
Tuyll
Tuyll is the name of a noble Dutch family, with familial and historical links to England, whose full name is van Tuyll van Serooskerken. Several knights, members of various courts, literary figures, generals, ambassadors, statesmen and explorers carried the family name.-Early and High Middle...
van Serooskerken (1707–1776), and Helena Jacoba de Vicq (1724–1768). Her parents were described by the British author James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
as "one of the most ancient noblemen in the Seven Provinces" and "an Amsterdam lady, with a great deal of money". Isabelle was the eldest of seven children.
In 1750, Isabelle was sent to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and travelled through Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Having spoken only French for a year, she had to relearn Dutch on returning home to the Netherlands. However, French would remain her preferred language for the rest of her life, which helps to explain why, for a long time, her work was not as well known in her country of birth as it otherwise might have been.
Isabelle enjoyed a much broader education than was usual for girls at that time, thanks to the liberal views of her parents who also let her study subjects like mathematics. By all accounts, she was a gifted student.
As she grew older, various suitors appeared on the scene only to be rejected. She saw marriage as a way to gain freedom but she also wanted to marry for love. Eventually, in 1771, she married Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière de Penthaz, the former tutor of her brothers. Since then she was known as Madame de Charrière. They settled at Le Pontet in Colombier (near Neuchâtel) in Switzerland. They also spent significant amounts of time in Neuchâtel, Geneva and Paris.
Correspondence
Isabelle de Charrière kept up an extensive correspondence with numerous people, including intellectuals like James BoswellJames Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
and Benjamin Constant
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-born French nobleman, thinker, writer and politician.-Biography:...
.
In 1760, Isabelle met David Louis de Constant d'Hermenches (1722–1785), a married Swiss officer regarded in society as a Don Juan. After much hesitation, Isabelle's need for self-expression overcame her scrupules and, after a second meeting two years later, she began an intimate and secret correspondence with him. Constant d'Hermenches was to be one of her most important correspondents.
The Scottish writer James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
was a frequent visitor to Castle Zuylen in 1764 and became a regular correspondent for several years. After leaving the Netherlands, going on Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, he wrote her that he was not in love with her. She replied: "We agree, because I have no talent for subordination".
In 1766 he proposed to her after meeting her brother in Paris.
In 1786, Mme de Charrière met Constant d'Hermenches' nephew, the writer Benjamin Constant
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-born French nobleman, thinker, writer and politician.-Biography:...
in Paris. They began an exchange of letters that would last until the end of her life.
Works
Isabelle de Charrière wrote novels, pamphlets, plays and composed music. Her most productive period came only after she had been living in Colombier for a number of years. Themes included her religious doubts, the nobility and the upbringing of women.Her first novel, Le Noble, was published in 1762. It was a satire against the nobility and although it was published anonymously, her identity was soon discovered and her parents withdrew the work from sale.
In 1784 she published two novels, Lettres neuchâteloises and Lettres de Mistriss Henley publiée par son amie. Both were epistolaries, a form she continued to favour. In 1788, she published her first pamphlets about the political situation in the Netherlands.
As an admirer of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
, she assisted in the posthumous publication of his work, Confessions
Confessions (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
Confessions is an autobiographical book by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In modern times, it is often published with the title The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in order to distinguish it from St. Augustine of Hippo's Confessions...
, in 1789. She also wrote her own pamphlets on Rousseau around this time.
The French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
caused a number of nobles to flee to Neuchâtel and Mme de Charrière befriended some of them. But she also published works criticising the attitudes of the aristocratic refugees, most of whom she felt had learned nothing from the Revolution.
Scientific publications of the original texts
- Œuvres complètes, Éd. J-D. Candaux, C.P. Courtney, P. Dubois, S. Dubois, P. Thompson, J. Vercruysse, D.M. Wood. Amsterdam, G.A. van Oorschot, 1979-1984. 10 vols. 8190 p.
- Die wiedergefundene Handschrift: Victoire ou la vertu sans bruit. Hrsg. Magdalene Heuser. In: Editio. Internationales Jahrbuch für Editionswissenschaft. 11 (1997), p. 178-204.
- Early writings. New material from Dutch archives. Éd. Kees van Strien, Leuven, Éditions Peeters, 2005. 338 p.
- Correspondances et textes inédits. Éd. Guillemette Samson, J-D. Candaux, J. Vercruysse et D. Wood. Paris, Honoré Champion, 2006 423 p.
Translations
- Letters written from Lausanne. Translated from the French. Bath, printed by R. Cruttwell, 1799. viii, 175 p. + 200 p. Print On DemandPrint on demandPrint on demand , sometimes called, in error, publish on demand, is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book are not printed until an order has been received...
by Gale Ecco, Print Editions, 2010. - Four tales by Zélide. Translation by S[ybil].M[arjory].S[cott-Cutting] with an introduction by Geoffrey Scott. [The Nobleman, Mistress Henley, Letters from Lausanne, Letters from Lausanne-Caliste]. London, Constable, 1925. xxix, 263 p. ReprintReprintA reprint is a re-publishing of material that has already been previously published. The word reprint is used in many fields.-Academic publishing:...
by Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, N.Y., 1970. ReprintReprintA reprint is a re-publishing of material that has already been previously published. The word reprint is used in many fields.-Academic publishing:...
by Turtle Point Press, New York, 2009. 304 p. - Letters from Mistress Henley published by her friend. Translation Philip Stewart and Jean Vaché. New York, The Modern Language Association of America, 1993. xxix, 42 p.
- Letters from Switzerland. [Letters from Neuchatel, Letters from Mistress Henley, Letters from Lausanne, Letters from Lausanne-Caliste]. Ed., translation and biography James Chesterton. Cambridge, Carole Green Publishing, 2001. xii, 276 p.
- Three women. A novel by the abbe de la Tour. Translation Emma Rooksby. New York, The Modern Language Association of America, 2007. xii, 176 p.
Correspondence
- Boswell in Holland, including his correspondence with Belle de Zuylen (Zélide). Ed. Frederick Pottle. 428 p. London: William Heinemann, 1952.
- Letter of Isabelle de Charrière to James Boswell 27 March 1768. Published in The General Correspondence of James Boswell (1766-1769), ed. Richard Cole, Peter Baker, Edinburgh University Press, 1993, vol.2, p. 40-41.
- There are no letters like yours. The correspondence of Isabelle de Charrière and Constant d'Hermences. Translated and with an introduction and annotations by Janet Whatley and Malcolm Whatley. Lincoln NE, University of Nebraska Press, 2000. xxxv, 549 p.
Miscellany
- The asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
9604 Bellevanzuylen9604 Bellevanzuylen9604 Bellevanzuylen is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1366.8884709 days . The asteroid was discovered on December 30, 1991, and named after Belle van Zuylen, better known as Isabelle de Charrière , a Dutch-born French novelist.-References:...
was named in her honour in 1991. - The film Belle van Zuylen - Madame de CharrièreBelle van Zuylen - Madame de CharrièreBelle van Zuylen - Madame de Charrière is a 1993 Dutch historical film, directed by Digna Sinke.A biography of Isabelle de Charrière and her friendship with Benjamin Constant....
was directed by Digna SinkeDigna SinkeDigna Sinke is a Dutch film director, producer and screenwriter. She has directed 13 films since 1972. Her 1984 film De stille Oceaan was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
in 1993. - The Belle van Zuylen Chair of Utrecht UniversityUtrecht UniversityUtrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
, Netherlands, was held by Cecil Courtney (1995), Monique Moser-Verrey (April 2005), Nicole Pellegrin-Postel (October 2005)
External links
- Madame de Charrière website (in Dutch and French)
- Belle van Zuylen website (in Dutch, site of the Genootschap Belle van Zuylen)
- RNW Text of Passport to westeuropean literature
- RNW broadcast Passport to literature: Belle de Zuylen
- Womenwriters database Isabelle de Charrière
- RNW broadcast The Goddess of the Netherlands
- Compositions of Isabelle de Charrière
- Works of Isabelle de Charrière
- Revised thesis of Dennis Wood 1998 The novels of isabelle de Charrière