Dramatic Proverbs

Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, Theresa Varney Kennedy, Theresa Varney Kennedy , Paige Tierney

$105.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

Iter Press
18 April 2025

Anthologies (non-poetry); Dictionaries of quotations; Gender studies: women

Series: The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series

This translated edition of Madame de Maintenon's school plays showcases their emphasis on the importance of girls' self-reliance and resilience in an accessible and engaging format for modern students.

Madame de Maintenon's Dramatic Proverbs provides unprecedented access to an important transitional marker between the society games of the salon and the education theater of the eighteenth century. Composed for the impoverished female pupils at the boarding school she and King Louis XIV founded at Saint-Cyr, Maintenon's dramatic proverbs crucially reveal the values emphasized in female education at the end of the seventeenth century—a period plagued by economic crisis and growing aristocratic poverty. Some of the first to exclusively express a woman's point of view, Maintenon's dramatic proverbs challenged traditional female education and promoted improved conditions for women. The proverbs contributed uniquely to improvisational educational theater, inaugurating a tradition that continued well into the eighteenth century.

This edition of the plays aims to privilege accessibility and accuracy so that twenty-first-century students can act out, interpret, and discuss these historical texts.

By: Françoise d’Aubigné Marquise de Maintenon, Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon
Introduction by: Theresa Varney Kennedy
Edited by: Theresa Varney Kennedy
Translated by: Paige Tierney
Imprint: Iter Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781649591289
ISBN 10: 1649591284
Series: The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series
Pages: 338
Publication Date: 18 April 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Madame de Maintenon’s Dramatic Proverbs and The Other Voice Madame de Maintenon’s Life and Works Historical Context of Maintenon’s Proverbs Summary and Analysis of the Text Afterlife of the Text: Translations and Subsequent Interpretations Note on the Translation Madame de Maintenon’s Dramatic Proverbs Bibliography Index

Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon (1635–1719) was the second wife and untitled queen of King Louis XIV of France. She became a powerful female figure at Versailles and founded the Maison royale de Saint-Louis-in-Saint-Cyr, a boarding school for impoverished aristocratic girls. Theresa Varney Kennedy is a professor of French at Baylor University and the author of Women’s Deliberation: The Heroine in Early Modern French Women’s Theater (1650–1750). Paige Tierney is visiting assistant professor of French at Wake Forest University.

Reviews for Dramatic Proverbs

""These short playlets, written by Françoise de Maintenon as classroom exercises for younger students in the school she directed at Saint-Cyr, have great historical importance and are enjoyable to read. They are preceded by an excellent introduction that gives a thorough account of Maintenon’s biography and pedagogical ideas, as well as the significance of her texts."" * Perry Gethner (1947–2023), Former head of the Department of Languages and Literatures, Regents Professor of Foreign Language, Oklahoma State University *