Challe, Robert

About the author: Anne de Sola is French born and lives in England. She has a PhD from the University of Reading, where she teaches in the Department of French Studies. Her main research interests are in the 18th-century French novel on which she has written several articles, including a monograph on Robert Challe.

Critical Edition of Penelope Aubin’s Translation of Robert Challe’s Les Illustres Francaises / The Illustrious French Lovers

2000 0-7734-7701-2
Abduction and magic philtres, debauchery and virtue, fickleness and passionate fidelity are the components of the stories of The Illustrious French Lovers (1727), translated into English by Penelope Aubin from the French Les Illustres Françaises (1722) by Robert Challe, The literary importance of both texts has now become obvious. In early 18th - century France and England, they contributed to the transformation of the novel, affecting the techniques as well as the nature of narration. Both the social context and the moral dilemmas were familiar to the readers of the time, but, set in this everyday context, these constitute extraordinary stories.