The story of Francoise de Graffigny's life reads like a novel. Following a disastrous marriage, she was forced by political upheavals to leave her native Lorraine and move to Paris, where she struggled to survive against poverty and persecution. Here she made her way into the heart of literary society in the heyday of the Enlightenment, wrote a novel - the Lettres d'une Peruvienne (1747) - that made her an international celebrity, wrote a play - Cenie (1750) - that ranked among the ten most successful new plays of the century, and became a noted salon hostess. Yet fifty years after her death she was almost forgotten, and has been rediscovered only in the last few decades. Now her novel is widely read once more, and studied as a masterpiece. At the same time, a vast collection of her letters and papers emerged, and scholars have used the ongoing edition of her Correspondance to shed important light on a long list of noted figures, such as Choiseul, Crebillon fils, Duclos, Helvetius, Palissot, Prevost, Rousseau, and Voltaire. This biography draws on those letters, including the hundreds not yet published, and on the editorial team's highly praised research, to provide the first biography in ninety years of this phenomenal woman. It provides new material on all aspects of her life, from her intimate feelings to the composition and publication of her literary works. It is by far the most complete and accurate account of Mme de Graffigny's life and times.

The fascinating letters between Vera Brittain and Winifred Hotlby, written from 1920 to 1935, tell the story of an extraordinary friendship that created a model for a new kind of independent woman, after the First World War. This is a literary relationship that began when the women met at Somerville, Cambridge and lasted until Winifred's early death at the age of 35. The letters that kept Vera Brittain and Winifred 'continuously together' shows us the inner life of two women who wished to make their mark on the world. They wrote about their ambitions and encouraged and advised each other. But there were also periods when they were literary rivals (Winifred landed a book deal first) and the letters show them negotiating envy and self-doubt. It was at times an uneven relationship: Vera, five years older, married and had two children during this period, and her Testament of Youth became a bestseller, while Winifred remained a single woman with an adventurous spirit that took her travelling and as one of Holtby's characters says in her famous novel, South Riding: 'I am spinster and I am going to spin!' Vera helped Winifred form her ideology - 'You made me' and Winifred shored up Vera, including managing her husband and children (who were devoted to Winifred) and was Vera's intellectual sounding board. A social history, a portrait of a time between the wars and a dramatic, touching story, it has all the hallmarks of honest female friendship: one not without friction and with its own delicate co-dependency but it was life enhancing and life changing for them both. After Winifred's death Vera said of their letters that they showed 'that loyalty and affection between women - not only unsung but mocked, belittled - is a noble relationship.'

These fascinating letters between Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby tell the story of an extraordinary friendship. 'A beautiful collection' Daisy Dunn, Sunday Times 'Completely fascinating' Rachel Cooke, Observer 'Lively, perceptive and immaculately edited' Miranda Seymour, Literary Review 'A moving, unvarnished chronicle of intellectual comradeship' Sarah Watling, Telegraph A literary relationship that began when the women met at Somerville College, Oxford, in 1919, it lasted until Winifred's early death at the age of thirty-seven. The letters, written from 1920 to 1935, kept them 'continuously together', and show us the life of two pioneers who wished to make their mark as writers and campaigners. Each encouraged and advised the other. However, there were periods when they were literary rivals. Winifred landed a book deal first; Vera produced an international bestseller with Testament of Youth; and the letters show them negotiating envy and self-doubt. It was at times an uneven relationship: Vera, more than four years older, was married and had two children during this period, while Winifred, a single woman with an adventurous spirit, travelled and made a wide range of friends. As the heroine of her novel South Riding says, 'I was born to be a spinster and by God, I'm going to spin!' Vera decisively influenced Winifred's passion for feminism and peace; 'You made me,' Winifred told her. In turn, Winifred, who took care of Vera's children and placated her husband, gave Vera crucial intellectual and emotional support, fiercely believing in her literary gifts. A portrait of the inter-war years and a dramatic, touching and ultimately tragic story, the letters have the hallmarks of honest female friendship: not without friction and with its own delicate co-dependency, but life-changing for them both.

A volume of correspondence of Madame de Graffigny, 18th-century French writer, dating from 20th August 1752 to 30 December 1753.

The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series, previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are published in English or French.

It was a surprise to everyone, including director Eric Rohmer, that My Night at Maud's was a success. The film violated almost all the rules of popular filmmaking. It had no crime, no explicit sex, no violence, and no action. As English Showalter points out in his excellent introduction to the volume, half the film was spent on one scene in which three characters seem to talk endlessly about subjects of little interest to a general audience––religion (Catholicism in particular), philosophy, Pascal, morality, even mathematics. The film explores the unexpectedly complex relationships between two men and two women, and seems to end with the affirmation of traditional values such as chastity, piety, and the family. All this at the end of the sixties, when other popular French films by directors such as Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol, and Varda were attempting to comment on and were succeeding in reflecting turbulent times and ideas in their work. Showalter discusses the film in the context of Rohmer's conservative film theory and explains its relationship to the other films in the director's series of Six Moral Tales. He shows how Rohmer's sense of place and his techniques of film narration develop the theme of moral choice in a story about love and chance encounters with a delightfully ironic conclusion.  The volume also contains a selection of background and critical materials, including interviews with Rohmer and pertinent statements by him, reviews of the film from several countries, and important criticism of the film from the past twenty years. A brief biography, filmography, and selected bibliography are also included. This volume will be indispensable for anyone studying this important film, and will delight those who just want to enjoy it.