Far from Home in Early Modern France: Three Women’s Stories
by Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation, Anne-Marie Fiquet du Boccage and Henriette-Lucie Dillon de la Tour du Pin edited by Colette H. Winn translated by Colette H. Winn, Lauren King and Elizabeth Hagstrom
Iter Press, 2022 eISBN: 978-1-64959-055-8 | Paper: 978-1-64959-054-1 Library of Congress Classification DC33.4.F368 2022 Dewey Decimal Classification 840.932
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK An engaging account of women’s travels in the early modern period.
This book showcases three Frenchwomen who ventured far from home at a time when such traveling was rare. In 1639, Marie de l’Incarnation embarked for New France where she founded the first Ursuline monastery in present-day Canada. In 1750, Madame du Boccage set out at the age of forty on her first “grand tour.” She visited England, the Netherlands, and Italy where she experienced firsthand the intellectual liberty offered there to educated women. As the Reign of Terror gripped France, the Marquise de la Tour du Pin fled to America with her husband and their two young children, where they ran a farm from 1794 to 1796. The writings these women left behind detailing their respective journeys abroad represent significant contributions to early modern travel literature. This book makes available to anglophone readers three texts that are rich in both historical and literary terms.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation was an Ursuline nun and missionary. Anne-Marie Fiquet du Boccage was a Frenchwoman who set out for a series of “grand tours” in Europe in 1750 who kept a detailed record of her educational journeys to England, Holland, and Italy. Henriette-Lucie Dillon de la Tour du Pin fled revolutionary France for the United States. Her copious Journal of a Fifty-Year-Old Woman is one of few written testimonies of escape from the Reign of Terror written by a woman author. Colette H. Winn is professor emerita of French at Washington University in St. Louis. Lauren King received her MA in French literature from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. Elizabeth Hagstrom received her B.A. in French and international and area studies from Washington University in St. Louis.
REVIEWS
Far From Home makes available to anglophone readers three texts that are rich both historically and in literary terms. It introduces three women who left France, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and traveled very far or very widely — to New France, the young United States, and in a bold Grand Tour to sites in England, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. They narrated their journeys and experiences with considerable writerly skill and insight. Supported by a very helpful and robust apparatus, Colette Winn’s introduction is masterful at unpacking the web of genres represented in the writing of these three women.
- Carla Zecher, PhD, Executive Director, The Renaissance Society of America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Other Voice
Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation (1599–1672)
Anne Marie Fiquet Du Boccage (1710–1802)
Henriette-Lucie Dillon, Marquise de La Tour du Pin (1770–1853)
Experiencing Otherness
It will be there that I find bliss . . .
Let us step outside our homeland, there will be a new being . . .
The happiest moment of my existence . . .
The Journey Narrative: Forms and Content
The Missionary Letter
The Familiar Letter
The Autobiographical Memoir: A Hybrid Form
Travel Writing and Gender as a Field of Investigation and a Source for Teaching
Note on the Translations
Travel Narratives
Marie de l’Incarnation, Correspondence
Madame Du Boccage, Letters on England, Holland, and Italy
Madame de La Tour du Pin, Journal of a Fifty-Year-Old Woman
Appendix 1: Cécile de Sainte-Croix, The Story of Her Crossing and Arrival in Quebec (September 2, 1639)
Appendix 2: Glossary of Places
Appendix 3: Table of Currencies and Values
Appendix 4: Chronology
Bibliography
Index of Names
Thematic Index
Far from Home in Early Modern France: Three Women’s Stories
by Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation, Anne-Marie Fiquet du Boccage and Henriette-Lucie Dillon de la Tour du Pin edited by Colette H. Winn translated by Colette H. Winn, Lauren King and Elizabeth Hagstrom
Iter Press, 2022 eISBN: 978-1-64959-055-8 Paper: 978-1-64959-054-1
An engaging account of women’s travels in the early modern period.
This book showcases three Frenchwomen who ventured far from home at a time when such traveling was rare. In 1639, Marie de l’Incarnation embarked for New France where she founded the first Ursuline monastery in present-day Canada. In 1750, Madame du Boccage set out at the age of forty on her first “grand tour.” She visited England, the Netherlands, and Italy where she experienced firsthand the intellectual liberty offered there to educated women. As the Reign of Terror gripped France, the Marquise de la Tour du Pin fled to America with her husband and their two young children, where they ran a farm from 1794 to 1796. The writings these women left behind detailing their respective journeys abroad represent significant contributions to early modern travel literature. This book makes available to anglophone readers three texts that are rich in both historical and literary terms.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation was an Ursuline nun and missionary. Anne-Marie Fiquet du Boccage was a Frenchwoman who set out for a series of “grand tours” in Europe in 1750 who kept a detailed record of her educational journeys to England, Holland, and Italy. Henriette-Lucie Dillon de la Tour du Pin fled revolutionary France for the United States. Her copious Journal of a Fifty-Year-Old Woman is one of few written testimonies of escape from the Reign of Terror written by a woman author. Colette H. Winn is professor emerita of French at Washington University in St. Louis. Lauren King received her MA in French literature from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. Elizabeth Hagstrom received her B.A. in French and international and area studies from Washington University in St. Louis.
REVIEWS
Far From Home makes available to anglophone readers three texts that are rich both historically and in literary terms. It introduces three women who left France, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and traveled very far or very widely — to New France, the young United States, and in a bold Grand Tour to sites in England, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. They narrated their journeys and experiences with considerable writerly skill and insight. Supported by a very helpful and robust apparatus, Colette Winn’s introduction is masterful at unpacking the web of genres represented in the writing of these three women.
- Carla Zecher, PhD, Executive Director, The Renaissance Society of America
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Other Voice
Marie Guyart de l’Incarnation (1599–1672)
Anne Marie Fiquet Du Boccage (1710–1802)
Henriette-Lucie Dillon, Marquise de La Tour du Pin (1770–1853)
Experiencing Otherness
It will be there that I find bliss . . .
Let us step outside our homeland, there will be a new being . . .
The happiest moment of my existence . . .
The Journey Narrative: Forms and Content
The Missionary Letter
The Familiar Letter
The Autobiographical Memoir: A Hybrid Form
Travel Writing and Gender as a Field of Investigation and a Source for Teaching
Note on the Translations
Travel Narratives
Marie de l’Incarnation, Correspondence
Madame Du Boccage, Letters on England, Holland, and Italy
Madame de La Tour du Pin, Journal of a Fifty-Year-Old Woman
Appendix 1: Cécile de Sainte-Croix, The Story of Her Crossing and Arrival in Quebec (September 2, 1639)
Appendix 2: Glossary of Places
Appendix 3: Table of Currencies and Values
Appendix 4: Chronology
Bibliography
Index of Names
Thematic Index
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC