French · 1634–1693
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette, was a French novelist of the seventeenth century. Born in Paris, she grew up in minor nobility, studied Latin and Italian, and in 1655 married François Motier, Comte de La Fayette. She later lived mostly in Paris and became part of the court circle around Henrietta of England. She kept a literary salon and was a close friend of the writer François de La Rochefoucauld, whose pessimistic view of human motives shaped her work. She published anonymously or under the name of friends, as was common for noblewomen. Her best-known book, The Princess of Cleves (1678), is often called the first modern psychological novel. It was set at the court of Henri II and built on restraint and self-analysis rather than action. She also wrote Zayde (1670) and the historical memoir Histoire d'Henriette d'Angleterre. Her work influenced later French novelists, including Stendhal and Proust.