SOURCE: Baker, Susan Read. “The Reception of La Rochefoucauld's Maximes (1659-1665): A Question of Gender?” Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature 13, no. 24 (1986): 65-81.

In the essay which follows, Baker discusses the differences in the initial reaction to the Maximes by La Rochefoucauld's male and female contemporaries.

The reception of La Rochefoucauld's Maximes from their inception to the present is an important topic recently broached during colloquia in France honoring the tricentenary of the duke's death.¹ In the present study, I wish to further what is currently a collective critical endeavor by proposing a gender-oriented exploration of the initial reception of the maxims by the moralist's peers. To my mind, scholars have not yet fully exploited the documentary evidence afforded by the work's period of genesis which extends roughly from 1659 to 1665, date of the first authorized edition. Within this time span, I shall focus most particularly upon the consultation...