Letters of Mistress Henley Published by Her Friend

Considered by many scholars to be among the most brilliant novels written in French during the eighteenth century, Lettres de Mistriss Henley publiées par son amie was composed as a response to Samuel de Constant's misogynist novel, The Sentimental Husband (1783). Charrière presents six letters penned by a Mistriss Henley, who has chosen a decent and affectionate man as her life's companion only to discover that she cannot bear sharing his life. An immediate success on its publication in 1784, Mistriss Henley was greeted with acclaim and controversy: one reader called the book "literarily excellent" but "morally dangerous in various ways." Remarkable for its empathy for both spouses, Mistriss Henley is not only a moving work of fiction but also one of the most modern novels of its day.

Philip Stewart's study of French narrative has led to the publication of Imitation and Illusion in the French Memoir-Novel, 1700-1750; Le Masque et la parole: le langage de l'amour au XVIIIe siècle; an edition of Prévost's Cleveland; and a study of literary illustrations entitled Engraven Desire: Eros, Image, and Text in the French Eighteenth Century. Professor Stewart is a former president of the American Association of Teachers of French and a member of the Editorial Board of Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century.