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 married François Motier, Comte de La Fayette, in 1655 and later became a fixture of Louis XIV's court circle. Her close friends included the moralist La Rochefoucauld and the letter writer Madame de Sévigné. She published her first novel, La Princesse de Montpensier, in 1662, followed by Zaïde, issued under the name of Segrais. Her best-known work, La Princesse de Clèves, appeared anonymously in 1678. It tells of a married noblewoman who loves another man and confesses her feelings to her husband. Critics often call it the first modern psychological novel in French, and it remains a standard text in French schools and universities. She also wrote a memoir of the court of Henriette d'Angleterre and a history of the court of France in 1688 and 1689. She died in Paris in 1693.