Translations and Continuations: Riccoboni and Brooke, Graffigny and Roberts (review)

This volume makes available, for the first time since the eighteenth century, two highly popular and influential epistolary novels by French women writers in contemporary translations by English women writers. For the first novel, Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni's Lettres de Milady Juliette Catesby à Milady Henriette Campley, son amie (1759), there is no modern English translation. Thus, the reprinting of the one by Frances Brooke from 1760 can serve both to introduce Riccoboni's novel to the general public and to indicate to French scholars how the work was received and interpreted by Riccoboni's contemporaries across the Channel. On the other hand, Françoise de Graffigny's Lettres d'une Péruvienne has benefitted from two recent translations. But reprinting the one from 1774 by R. Roberts (first name uncertain) is of value because Roberts added a new preface, plus an entire second volume in which she translated a brief continuation of the novel written by the Chevalier de Mouhy (7 letters), followed by an extensive continuation (22 letters) authored by herself.

Both translations are, on the whole, serviceable and readable. However, Brooke and Roberts took some liberties: amplifying, modifying, or deleting passages. These alterations mainly affect just a word or phrase, occasionally extended to a complete sentence. The number of outright mistakes is small. Curiously, Brooke alters nearly all of the proper names and some of the place names. Kaplan meticulously indicates in the editorial notes where the translation is not altogether faithful and notes those cases where the changes have more than purely textual significance. She glosses the few English words that are unfamiliar, gives historical background when needed, and makes reference to secondary sources dealing with key themes. Since Brooke's translation was so popular that it went through seven editions (two of them in the first year alone), Kaplan has collated the principal variants, most of which affect nothing more extensive than a word or short phrase. She has maintained the eighteenth-century spelling, correcting only glaring errors.

For many readers, the main attraction of this volume will be the chance to examine Roberts's sequel to Graffigny's novel, designed to skirt the original's unconventional ending. Many eighteenth-century readers were scandalized by Zilia's refusal to accept French identity, Christianity, and marriage (especially since the male protagonist, Déterville, is young, handsome, virtuous and unshakably faithful). Roberts, determined to make Zilia accept all three, used considerable ingenuity to present a gradual but believable transformation of the heroine. Although Graffigny would obviously not have approved, the sequel works reasonably well on its own terms. Roberts prepares the way for Zilia's change of heart by her rendering of Graffigny's text: she translates the first edition, rather than the revised edition of 1752, which gives more extensive criticism of how women are treated in French society and which, in the preface, refers to Zilia's "post-novel" activities of writing and translating. Roberts encourages readers to hope for the change of heart by giving greater weight to Déterville's point of view; in fact, in her sequel he writes 19 of the 22 letters. As Kaplan notes, Zilia's loss of epistolary voice corresponds to her increasing loss of independence, as other people discuss her and pressure her. Roberts shrewdly precedes the sentimental change with Zilia's religious conversion. To prepare Zilia's acceptance of marriage, Roberts introduces a new major character, Maria St. Clare, whose misfortunes parallel those of Zilia in many ways, including the insuperable obstacle of incest. Finally, Roberts introduces the well-worn motif of jealousy: Déterville, while on a trip to England, meets a beautiful young lady who possesses many of Zilia's perfections. Although his love for Zilia is too strong to allow him to fall into temptation, her anxiety at the thought that he might love another leads her to realize the depth of her own feelings for him.

The...