Madame de Pompadour: A Life (Hardcover)

by Evelyne Lever (Author), Catherine Temerson (Translator) "The Court is in turmoil and Louis XV is in despair..." (more)
Key Phrases: official mistress, few intimate friends, betrayed husband, Madame de Pompadour, Maria Theresa, Duc de Luynes (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
French historian Lever (Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France) not only puts in context the long-ago world of 18th-century France a world in which married women openly engaged in petty intrigue to gain their handsome, horny and self-absorbed monarch's attention but she also guides readers to a better understanding of King Louis XV's favorite mistress. The former Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (1721-1764) was known to the royal inner circle as "the oracle of the court" and "Prime Minister" (a reflection of her power), but the king's children referred to her as "Maman-putain," or Whore mommy. She had beautiful homes, unlimited funds, unchecked power and a status she would never otherwise have achieved, given her bourgeois background. Like Christine Pevitt Algrant (see review, p. 165), Lever has crafted a detailed and fascinating portrait of the woman who pretty well ran France from 1745 to 1764, but where Algrant is restrained, Lever is unafraid to take sides. She says, for instance, "The Marquise-Duchesse's ambitions knew no bounds, so great was her need to be recognized and highly regarded." Addressing why Pompadour was willing to go to great lengths to maintain her hold over the king (and therefore her status), Lever says it makes sense given that her mother was "not exactly a pillar of virtue" and "her free-and-easy morals were damaging to her daughter." Lever's prose is occasionally overwrought but, given the nature of the subject, some purple prose may be forgiven in an otherwise beguiling biography. 8 pages of color illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Here are two biographies of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, who became famous in 18th-century France as mistress of and confidante to Louis XV. When Poisson was young, a fortune-teller predicted that she would become the mistress of the king, and thereafter she was groomed by family and friends for the role. Eventually, she became a patron of the arts and was known to such luminaries as Voltaire and Montesquieu. In 1745, when she came to Louis XV's attention, she transformed herself into Madame de Pompadour. Poisson was given rooms at Versailles, and, though she was the king's lover for only five years, she remained his close adviser until her death. Algrant, author of Philippe, duc d'Orleans, a 1997 New York Times Notable Book, has written a well-researched volume on Madame de Pompadour. While previous biographies, such as Margaret Crosland's Madame de Pompadour: Sex, Culture, and Power, have focused on the cultural and sociological aspects of her era, Algrant brings her to life in an engaging study that will appeal to the general reader as well as the specialist. Leading French historian Lever (e.g., Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France) delivers a well-researched biographical account that gives a picture of Louis XV as well as of Madame de Pompadour in an easy-to-read manner. While Algrant's account tells more about Poisson's early life and rise as mistress, Lever's discusses more broadly the king's history of mistresses and life at court. Both books ably describe Madame de Pompadour's influence on France and the French people. Algrant's book, written in a slightly more accessible, storytelling manner, may bring the famous courtesan a bit more vividly to life than Lever's, but both biographies are recommended for most collections. [Algrant's book was previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/02.]-Mary Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll. Libs., Wheelin.
--Mary Salony, West Virginia Northern Community Coll. Libs., Wheeling
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (October 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374113084
• ISBN-13: 978-0374113087
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,051,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So close, and yet so far..., January 20, 2003

By	"somethingsensible" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

Having finished this book, I am struck with an uneasy dissatisfaction. Evelyn Lever did a very good job - so far as she went with her subject. But she leaves you hungry for more.

"Madame de Pompadour" is easier reading than similar works by Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman, and Alison Weir. Lever cites fewer sources in her text, relying primarily on simple footnotes with little comparison and contrast of conflicting sources. Nor does she go into the specifics or character of her sources, leaving the reader to wonder where the information is really coming from, who said what and why. In some instances, it is difficult to see how Lever came to her conclusions. This makes the book move faster, but it also creates a void in the overall effect.

The backdrop of the French court is not fleshed out with details of the period or placed into greater historical context. the reader is given no real sense of time and place, and this makes the two primary characters - Madame Pompadour and Louis XV - somewhat two dimensional.

As a lover of historical biography and a fan of the scholastic style used by Fraser and the others listed above, I was disappointed. The period and the personality of Jean-Antoinette de Pompadour did not come alive through the reading and I craved more details of her life - what she ate, what she wore, some speculation on *how* her tastes developed.

The detailing of the events of Madame Pompadour's life fall curiously flat. How on Earth did this woman retain the role of offical mistress when she flatly refused to sleep with Louis XV after the first 7 years of their relationship? Lever simply says that the King was "dependent" on her but does not detail why this might have been.

Also, this is the bio of one of the most famous professional courteasans in History - surely a bit more salacious detail was in order? there is practically no speculation or discussion of sex, and let's face it, when we read about a woman who traded her "virtue" for power, a little sex talk is what we're looking for.

I had read in "At Home with the Marquis de Sade" and other texts that the Parisian Police Chief of this time was in the habit of forwarding reports of his spies in the brothels of Paris to Madame Pompadour and the King so that they could enjoy a limited sex life through voyeurism. There was no mention of this in the text, not even to refute the assertion, although Lever cited the same sources as "de Sade," which causes me to speculate that perhaps the author has intentionally avoided this sort of detail.

On the whole, however, it's not a bad book. The details given are indeed fascinating - for example, an examination of royal patronage and the Royal Mistress's role in the development of the French china industry or carefully reconstrcuted descriptions of Madame Pompadour's tastes in antiques and architecture. The photo inserts, tho smallish, do contain some lovely examples of portraiture and Lever gives great attention examining the details in context of the subject's life.

Lever is thankfully not one of those biographers that becomes so infatuated with her subject that she cannot see and discuss her flaws. She reports Madame Pompadour's unpopularity without making a crusade of it, and does manage to bring a soild sketch of Madame Pompadour's personality through, despite the lack of intimate detail.

I would buy this book if you're looking for an easy read and find the details of historical context boring. But if you live for the historical detail and the minute descriptions that make a subject come alive to the reader, best that this book be skipped.

I'm told that there are more scholastically minded books on the market, including one with an introduction by Amanda Foreman. I intend to supplement my reading with these as soon as possible, because this book did convey enough of Madame Pompadour's fascination that I want to read more.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An engaging, even-handed study of Madame de Pompadour, January 29, 2003

By	Richard Sawyer (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Overall, this is a well-written, engaging portrait of Madame de Pompadour, as well as other important persons of the times, including Louis XV, the aristocracy, Pompadour's family members, etc. We learn much about Pompadour, her personality, how she managed her rise to prominence, the court intrigues. Her involvement in politics and the arts are addressed. I would have liked some more information on other aspects of French society (e.g., life of different social classes, the economy, foreign affairs) than is provided. I recognize that the main point of the book is a focus on Pompadour, yet I believe this additional information would have provided a fuller picture in which to understand Pompadour. Nevertheless, I would defintely recommend this book to a reader who wants to learn more about this important woman and the court life during Louis XV's rein.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good novel about a very powerful woman, January 23, 2003

By A Customer

The tremendous research done to write this book is obvious. It is fascinating, though almost too detailed. The reader is bombarded with names and titles that are very hard to keep straight even for someone who speaks French. However, it is a compelling look at the life and era of an influential woman.