The Sprites of Kernosy Castle (Volume 105) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series)

A subversive novel from 1710 that questioned political and aesthetic ideologies in eighteenth-century France.

This novel reflects a shift in French values at the turn of the eighteenth century, which saw increased interest in the private lives of the aristocracy and the pre-Enlightenment questioning of political and religious orthodoxies. Novels of fiction and leisure gained popularity, and it was during this time that Henriette-Julie de Castelnau, the Countess de Murat, published her second leisure novel, The Sprites of Kernosy Castle. Combining humor, social satire, and a proto-feminist outlook, Murat crafts a well-constructed plot where the supernatural is debunked. Murat’s career was cut short when a series of “misdemeanors” related to the countess’s homosexual tendencies led to her arrest in 1702. Sprites, which was released during a partial reprieve from prison, is the final published work of this independent-minded early feminist author.
 

Henriette-Julie de Castelnau, Countess de Murat (1668–1716) was one of the most prolific French women writers of the late seventeenth century. 

Perry Gethner is Regents Professor of French at Oklahoma State University. 

Allison Stedman is professor of French at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.