How Belle de Zuylen's Correspondence with Constant d'Hermenches Shaped Isabelle de Charrière's Literary Works

How Belle de Zuylen's Correspondence with Constant d'Hermenches Shaped Isabelle de Charrière's Literary Works1 Colette Henriette BELLE DE ZUYLEN/ISABELLE DE CHARRIÈRE (1740-1805) corresponded with a Swiss officer, David Constant d'Hermenches, from 1760 to 1776. This correspondence occurred during Belle's formative and decisive years from the age of 19 to 36. Surprisingly, 267 of their letters were preserved (159 from Belle, and 108 from d'Hermenches). It is only after her marriage to Emmanuel de Charrière in 1771 and her installation in Le Pontet (near Neuchâtel, Switzerland) that she began to publish novels and literary works, beginning with her first novel Lettres neuchâteloises in 1784. The published author is better known as Isabelle de Charrière. The first significant aspect of their correspondence is the fact that, chronologically , it takes place before the publication of her literary works, prompting the idea that there might be in those letters the seeds of the burgeoning author. Secondly, this correspondence is notable because it covers a 16-year period of time, suggesting a slow, maturing development of an author. Thirdly, the secret nature of their epistolary liaison guarantees the authenticity of the material. Since these letters were private, Belle wrote with confidence and freedom, which allows us to study raw material, unedited writings, as they pour out naturally from her pen in the freshness of their first draft. For many of these reasons, Belle de Zuylen's correspondence with Constant d'Hermenches is particularly fitting to examine, for it shows us if and how it contributed to the shaping of the woman of letters that she became. Scholars who study correspondence have developed two prominent lines of thought. The traditional view is that the sole purpose of letter writing is communication. Among those who defend this opinion, Rocher Duchêne, basing his conclusions on his studies of Madame de Sévigné, affirms that the 17th-century woman of letters' only motivation was to communicate with her daughter. According to Duchêne, the only reference to take into account is the reality of life itself: Madame de Sévigné is not concerned about her literary style, and is not even aware of her great stylistic talent.2 However, recent research on the form and characteristics of correspondence , without denying its communicative aspect, suggests that letter writing has a more complex function. It may serve as a "laboratory" for literary Vol. XL, No. 4 25 L'Esprit Créateur works. Vincent Kaufman has articulated this thought by pointing out that letter writing is ambiguous. It seems to foster proximity and communication, and yet it actually creates a distance that allows the literary text to emerge.3 He states that there is a space, the contour of which is hazy, blurred, nebulous and indefinite, a sort of a wasteland, an enigmatic zone where the letter writer stands. This space functions like a laboratory in which the writer tries out and practices a new form of writing which takes him/her closer to a literary act.4 The term "laboratory" etymologically conveys an idea of work, but it is also a place where experiments are happening, "a place where theories, techniques , and methods ... are tested, analyzed"5 or performed. To this one can add the metaphor of "travail" since it seems that during those years an invisible , underground, embryonic work was in progress. The letter writing provided an opportunity and a space by assembling the conditions which favor the conception of the literary seed. How has the incubational nature of this correspondence molded Madame de Charrière's style and the form of her future works? One noticeable trait in Madame de Charrière's novels is the absence of closure . In the introduction to her first fictional work, Lettres neuchâteloises, the editors of her Œuvres complètes state that her novels have a common trait, which is the absence of conclusion "en bonne et due forme."6 Germaine de Staël, in a letter addressed to Madame de Charrière on August 27, 1793, criticized that mannerism: "je ne sais rien de plus pénible que votre manière de commencer sans finir" (4...