The Age of Conversation (Hardcover)

by Benedetta Craveri (Author), Teresa Waugh (Translator)
Key Phrases: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Président Hénault, François de Callières, Mme du Deffand, Mme de Lafayette, Mlle de Scudéry (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Craveri's account of the French aristocratic circles in which conversation emerged as an art offers a rich blend of personalities, anecdotes, scandal and genuinely amusing letters to flesh out an intellectual argument leading from early 17th-century aristocratic entertainment to the Enlightenment salon. Craveri, a contributor to the New York Review of Books, develops her theme by examining the careers of several prominent women who carved social and intellectual space for themselves in their homes and served as models for successive generations. The Marquise de Rambouillet set the stage when she retreated from Louis XIII's inhospitable court to build her famed Blue Room, designed specifically for refined entertainment. Even in this early phase, says Craveri, an emphasis on style and wit led to some blurring of class distinctions. A generation of women who had gathered under Rambouillet's roof continued the fashion, shaped by literary interests, religion, delicately and passionately expressed tastes, love affairs and female friendships and rivalries. By the next century, the British identified wit and elegance, developed in the salons, as the quintessential French quality that allowed all manner of ideas to be expressed. This intriguing book is peppered with untranslatable words that miraculously don't weigh it down. (June)
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From The New Yorker
Craveri argues that when, in the sixteen-twenties, the Marquise de Rambouillet offered her home as a place for the French nobility to gather she was unwittingly fermenting a revolution. The next century and a half constituted the golden age of conversation, which allowed the aristocracy to establish a new order, based not on the strictures of church or crown but on manners. Craveri's narrative paints a series of brilliant portraits of those (mostly women) who presided over the new sphere. Her thesis that the politesse of the nobility was the foundation of égalité is subtly provocative, but it ignores the legions who were excluded from the salons, and who took up arms against the bantering classes. For Craveri, the aristocracy is elegant, witty, and honorable to the end, when salons were held in prison as the conversationalists awaited the guillotine.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 475 pages
• Publisher: New York Review Books; Tra edition (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590171411
• ISBN-13: 978-1590171417
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #900,575 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Noble talking, January 1, 2006

By	César González Rouco (Madrid, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The description on the synopsis of the book provided by the "Book reviews" is fairly accurate. Therefore, I will only point out that the book is no very engaging, but it is not dry either. It can be savoured by the professional historian, and by the educated layperson too. Therefore, my rating is 5 (content) and 3/4 (pleasure). In addition to this work, other books that I would recommend reading would be 1) "Nobilities in Transition 1550-1700 : Courtiers and Rebels in Britain and Europe" by Ronald G. Asch; 2 and 3)"Myths of Power. Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court " and "Vienna and Versailles : The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550-1780 (New Studies in European History)" by Jeroen Duindam (whose books present a more accurate view of monarchy, nobility, the court and the state contrary to that provided by Elias's "The Court Society"); and 4) "The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century" by John Brewer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Women of style and words, August 22, 2007

By	C. Barilleaux (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Age of Conversation (Paperback)

Thoroughly enjoyed this hundred year plus survey of women who influenced French culture and the world through their skillful handling of men of letters and men of power. It is well-written, not ponderous or academic like many histories. Anyone who is interested in France, nobility, women's history, or the art of living well will find this an intriguing look into the beautiful drawing rooms of Paris. I can think of several friends to whom I would recommend this book. Truly satisfying.

3.0 out of 5 stars french women of old, July 5, 2009

By	M. Garchet - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Age of Conversation (Paperback)

A very detailed study about how some women in the XVIII century France became leading "locomotives" in society, dictating the ways people shoud behave, talk and even think. It's interesting but a little too long and too detailed.