SOURCE: Larsen, Anne R. “The Rhetoric of Self-Defense in Les Angoysses douloureuses qui procedent damours (Part One).” Kentucky Romance Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1982): 235-43.

In the following essay, Larsen analyzes de Crenne's apologetic and combative intent in Les Angoysses douloureuses, exploring the author's portrayal of herself as a victim of love and her conception of writing as a self-justifying act.

Recent criticism on Les Angoysses douloureuses qui procedent damours (1538), the first French sentimental novel, has centered on its structure. Against the view that it is without unity,¹ several critics have sought to discern a dominant intention which explains the shifts in the narration and the subject-matter of its three parts. Thus Paule Demats in her edition of Les Angoysses, (Part One)² has argued that Helisenne de Crenne³ wrote the first part in order to defend herself before her entourage or in a court of law against her husband's attacks and...