Madame de Sévigné and the theories of the novel

Mme de Sevigné was neither a novel writer nor a literary critic. She was an erudite and a woman of the world, frequenting salons where disputes and discussions, often about literature, were conducted.
In the 17th century, the novel was by no means treated as a literary genre since Aristotle never mentioned it in his Poetics. But it was the novel that was the most frequently read. The times of Descartes had to produce rules of the genre that never had them before.
In my article, I have presented comments regarding novel writing, known to Mme. de Sevigné, usually described in Prefaces to works known to the Marchioness. I have analysed fragments of her letters where Mme. de Sevigné wrote about erudites, engaged in writing about the theory of the novel, about novel writers and their concepts on principles of novel writing.
The first group includes the Marchioness' friends Gilles Ménage and Jean Chapelain, both authorities in the field of literature. Their opinions on the works discussed in her letters counted the most for Mme. de Sevigné. Furthermore, I have presented novels, read by Mme. de Sevigné, whose authors, in Prefaces to their works, shared their opinions on the principles of the novel writing with their readers, e.g. Georges and Madeleine de Scudéry, as well as Charles Sorel and Paul Scarron. The latter are mentioned by Mme. de Sevigné whenever she talked about grotesque characters of novels or their behaviour. Mme. de Sevigné mentioned many others such as Pierre-Daniel Huet or Nicolas Boileau. L'Art poétique was, even before publication, a well-known work, widely discussed in the salons and admired.
Although Mme. de Sevigné knew theoretical works, she nevertheless, judged the novels by the pleasures their reading gave her.

Keywords: Mme de Sevigné; novel; 17th century; French literature