Belle de Zuylen's correspondence (1740-1771)


______________________________________________________________________
Isabelle de Charrière / Belle de Zuylen (1740-1805) is well known for her important correspondence: six out of the ten volumes of her Oeuvres complètes contain the c. 2500 letters which has been preserved: addressed to her and written by herself to friends and family members.

Because of her marrying Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière in 1771, and leaving the Dutch Republic for Neuchâtel, this correspondence is in fact to be separated into two parts: the Dutch period (c. 400 letters, vol. I and half of vol. II - presented here), and the years in Switzerland (c. 2100 letters - presented in the Swiss part of the website).

This correspondence of course contains opinions expressed by Belle de Zuylen/Isabelle de Charrière herself and by those who wrote letters to her, but also by other people who are being mentioned or cited. For the moment (September 2007) the correspondence has not been treated completely. Yet it has provided 82 records, of which twelve concern the "Dutch period", and 70 the yeras she lived in Neuchâtel. 22 records contain information about the reception of Charrière's own works.

SvD, April 2007