Woman Viewing a Letter

Woman Viewing a Letter1 Catherine Labio WHEN WE SPEAK or write of the Lettres d'une portugaise, the correspondence of Mme de Sévigné, the exchange between Henriette and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and even of the letter(s) hidden in plain sight of prime ministers, detectives, and psychoanalysts, we refer, almost invariably, to the contents of the letters, not to their physical properties . We take up for the letter in literature the principle that we adopt for literature in general, which is that the work exists independently of its material support. We leave it to the odd postcard to remind us of what we repeatedly elect to forget. This literary blindness to the letter as an object dependent on the color of an ink, the hand of a writer, or the fold of a reader's pocket is much in evidence in the many discussions of the episode of the letter in La Princesse de Clèves (1678). Critics have raised numerous questions regarding this incident, especially with respect to the limits and possibilities of (female) self-definition in a courtly setting. I would like to focus on the letter as object and compare its literary representation with the six works by Vermeer that focus on a woman reading, writing, or receiving a letter. The comparison is mutually illuminating in that it brings into relief a cross-disciplinary understanding of the letter as privileged marker of remarkably similar preoccupations with and answers to questions of legibility, representation, and perspective. The episode of the letter in Lafayette's novel is worth summarizing at some length. Hoping to discredit Nemours, Chastelart, a gentleman devoted to Marie Stuart, gives her a "lettre de galanterie," which he believes to have been addressed to the Duc de Nemours by his mistress. The Reine Dauphine, impatient yet unable to read the letter, gives it to the Princesse de Clèves with instructions to read it as soon as possible, return it to her later in the evening, and let her know whether she recognizes its "écriture."2 Mme de Clèves retires to read the letter, whose contents reveal the anguish and anger of a woman who has been betrayed by her lover. Believing the unsigned letter to be addressed to Nemours, the Princesse jumps to a number of incorrect conclusions and, troubled, forgets to return it to the Reine Dauphine. In the meantime, the Vidame de Chartres is desperately looking for the letter himself, since it is he, not Nemours, who has lost it. The Vidame turns to Chastelart, who assumes he has been sent by Nemours and is only too happy to Vol. XL, No. 4 7 L'Esprit Créateur inform the Vidame that the letter is now in the hands of the Reine Dauphine. To complicate matters, the Queen of France also knows of the existence of the letter and thinks it has fallen from the pocket of the Vidame. In a long conversation with Nemours, the Vidame reveals that he is afraid of the Queen, to whom he has lied about his earlier liaison with Madame de Thémines, the author of the letter written some time ago and which deals with the Vidame's relationship with a third and unnamed woman. In addition, the Vidame fears losing Madame de Martigues, whom he is currently involved with, since she is not likely to believe the letter is not recent. The Vidame's only hope is to have Nemours claim the letter as his own and retrieve it for him. Nemours grasps at once that the Dauphine will have given the letter to the Princesse and goes straight to her. As she refuses to see him, Nemours enlists the help of M. de Clèves, who leads him to his wife in order to help the Vidame, who is her relation. Nemours succeeds in convincing the Princesse that the letter had not been addressed to him. He then leaves to allow her to go to the Reine Dauphine, who promptly asks Mme de Clèves to produce the letter, which the Queen has asked to see. Upon hearing that M. de Clèves has already given the letter back to Nemours, the...