Madame du Deffand and her world - Benedetta Craveri

Madame du Deffand (1696-1780) was a minor French aristocrat who, bored by her marriage, threw herself into scandalous relationships with leading noblemen, including the French Regent.
She later re-invented herself as a highly successful salonniere, her salon being frequented by leading thinkers of the day.
She also maintained very witty, perceptive correspondences with Voltaire (whose letters back are full expositions of his philosophy) and later with Horace Walpole with whom she fell deeply in love, much to his shock.

A professor of French Literature at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo, Italy, Benedetta Craveri was born
in Rome and now lives partly in Brussels.
(Her husband is a French amabassador to NATO).
A frequent contributor to the NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS