Sévigné’s ardent attachment to her daughter was not reciprocated by Madame de Grignan, who found her mother’s frequent letters and visits suffocating. Only then can one grasp one’s proper position in a mortal, perishing universe governed by an eternal God.Life is brief and you [Bussy-Rabutin] are already well advanced in age. The natural virtues defended by philosophers in their ardent disputes are often little more than the expression of self-interest and self-love.From the time of the first publication of Madame de Sévigné’s works in the eighteenth century, the reception of her writings has been primarily literary.
A clandestine edition, containing twenty-eight letters or portions of letters, was published in 1725, followed by two others the next year. Read more. When the Grignans moved to Provence in 1671 so that the Count of Grignan could fulfill a military commission, Madame de Sévigné faced an emotional crisis. I like them far more than the sentiments of Seneca and Epictetus. God has touched the heart of this poor child [a Faithful to Jansenist theology, Sévigné stresses the divine will as God’s central attribute. It is a desert where all the devotion of Christianity is spread out. The declared love of truth in violent philosophical disputes barely conceals the pride and willfulness of the disputants. L.-J.-N. Monmerqué, after publishing editions of previously unpublished letters in 1824 and 1827, edited the 14-volume edition of the complete correspondence of Sévigné. Circulation of letters and memoirs was not unusual in the era’s salons. The guardianship of the orphan passed to her maternal u… After many expanded editions of her writings, Roger Duchêne’s 3-volume critical edition of Sévigné’s correspondence published in 1972-78 became the standard reference for scholars.The wide diffusion of Sévigné’s writings was due primarily to the French academic establishment. Sévigné’s invective against Lenclos was sharpened by the fact that her own son Charles had been involved in a liaison with the famous courtesan. Without that, there is no other way to live in the world. Her letters reference the many Jansenist authors who shape her theological perspective: Blaise Pascal, Pierre Nicole, Antoine Arnauld, Robert Arnauld d’Andilly, and Saint-Cyran. Her correspondence frequently cited the conversations and books she has encountered. Mme de Sévigné's letters play an important role in the novel These causes wrongly dominate the concerns of most human beings.The philosophical emphasis on divine causation is tied to a theological emphasis on the doctrine of predestination. Among the libertines, she singled out Ninon de Lenclos (1620-1705) for specific criticism. Madame de Sévigné is played by Jeanne Boitel. Her father Celse-Bénigne de Rabutin, baron de Chantal, died during battle with the English on the island of Rhé in 1627.
As an example of such morally questionable reading, she cites her reading of the works of Rabelais with her son Charles.In addition to the presentation of her own philosophical opinions, Sévigné provides a chronicle of the philosophical culture of the salon.

It is paradise. Four angels or four genies received this beautiful soul above it all. Nonetheless, it should have its effect; so should the scarcely happier thought of the little place we have in the universe and how, in the end, it matters little whether the Count de Bussy was happy or unhappy. The sacramental action of a friend of Sévigné illustrates this truth.God gave her a very particular grace, one which indicates a true predestination. She then received Our Lord [in communion] in the same manner [Letter to Madame de Guitaut; June 3, 1693].The devout soul died shortly afterward in the state of grace.Given the centrality of the will among the divine attributes, surrender to God’s will becomes the central spiritual disposition to be cultivated by the human subject. An avid reader, Sévigné studied a wide range of ancient and modern works. I think about you there a thousand or two thousand times with such tenderness that I would betray it if I believed I could describe it in writing [Letter to Madame de Grignan; December 22, 1675].It is in such a natural oasis that the soul’s capacity for introspection, religious contemplation, and loving desire can flourish.The garden constitutes the summit of human art, perfecting the bounty of nature and transforming it for the purposes of the meditative soul.We are in a perfect solitude here and I find myself better for it. If you knew how she dogmatized about religion, you would be horrified. Sometimes I’ve even noticed that friendship wanted to insert itself into this in order to alter love and that in its own way it was also a true re-commencer [Letter to Bussy-Rabutin; October 7, 1655].The passage attends to the gradations of love, such as the difference between romantic love and more disinterested friendship. During the civil war of the Fronde in1648-52, she alternately opposed and supported the royalist party.

Petrarch must entertain you with the commentary you have.

“You know that I do not accommodate myself well with all this prudery which does not come naturally to me. This is not something to be endured” [Letter to Madame de Grignan; July 1, 1685]. An avid reader, Sévigné often confides her reactions to the theories expounded by the fashionable philosophers of the day.Among her chronicles of Cartesianism is Sévigné’s description of a philosophical debate which occurred in her own Breton home. Her granddaughter Madame de Simiane supervised the first edition of her letters to Madame de Grignan in 1726; Chevalier de Perrin published a corrected edition of these letters in 1734, 1737, and 1754.