Born: 15 November 1607, France
Died: 2 June 1701
Country most active: France
Also known as: NA
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Madeleine de Scudery (1607-1701), one of the most famous French novelists of her time, born at Havre. She came to Paris in 1630, where her wit and good sense soon won her high rank in the Rambouillet coterie. Later she established a salon of her own, and for the last half of the seventeenth century, was acknowledged as a leading literary spirit, esteemed by people as different in temper and ideals as Racine and La Fontaine, Conde and Madame de Sevigne. Her lengthy novels, greeted with universal admiration, in classic guise depicted French society, and were known and studied in all circles that aspired to literary culture. Her “Grand Cyrus,” in ten volumes, is probably the longest novel in the world, and consists of endless conversations of the most refined subtlety.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Madeleine de Scudery, the Sappho of her century, was commonly called the “Illustrious Sappho” by her friends, who marveled at her wit. Admitted to the best literary circles of Paris, she turned to writing as a means of earning a livelihood, an ambitious project at any time, but particularly so in the XVIIth century. Her undeniable talent won her many friends and benefactors, among them Christina of Sweden and Louis XIV of France; each left her a pension, and the Cardinal Mazarin granted her an annuity. An amusing anecdote is told about her. Having stopped at a little inn with her brother, she was discussing with him the plot of a novel which they were writing together. Part of the conversation was overheard, and as they had decided to poison the hero, a prince, they were arrested and taken to Paris, where they were kept in jail until they could prove their innocence.