Jean-Daniel Candaux
Thérèse Levasseur, ou les avatars d’une image (1762-1789)
Abstract
Jean-Daniel Candaux provides us with a precious list of the different books and pamphlets that shaped the public image of Thérèse Levasseur up to the publication by Charrière of her own Plainte et défense de Thérèse Levasseur. This much needed context enables one to assess the originality of Charrière’s pamphlet when contrasted with its predecessors – some of which she directly replies to within the Plainte et défense. One gains a better informed view of the various depictions – not to say ghosts – against which Charrière launched her “vindication”, in which she pretends to let Thérèse speak in her own voice by relying on a first-person narrative.
SvD, December 2012
- Publications > Belle de Zuylen Papers > 2012