Memoirs Duc De Saint-Simon Volume Three: 1715-1723

Memoirs of Duc de Saint-Simon: A Shortened Version #3

by Louis de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon, Lucy Norton (Editor)

The Duc de Saint-Simon was at the very center of Louis XIV's court at Versailles, a hotbed of intrigue, passion, jealousy, and political skullduggery. He was a genuinely pious and honest man whose unblinking record of the court-his eye-witness testimony of wars, intrigues, and royal visits-make this a supreme work of art. These memoirs were the literary inspiration for Marcel Proust's own masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past.

Genres: France, History, Memoir

532 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1755

About the author

French diplomat Louis de Rouvroy with title of duc de Saint-Simon wrote memoirs, a valuable historical source, of the court of Louis XIV.

This grandee served as a soldier. A mother bore him at the Hôtel Selvois, 6 Rue Taranne, demolished in 1876 to make way for the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

His enormous classic of literature give the fullest and most lively account at Versailles of the Régence at the start of reign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_d...

Reviews

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume is the least entertaining of the three volumes of Saint-Simon's memoirs I have read, as it is the one which deals least precipitately with the royal court, Louis XIV having died at the end of volume 2. Like myself, the Duke confesses to sometimes writing so quickly that he cannot be said to be writing a definitive history of his age. Two stars.

[Jenalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great life's work and legacy by the Duc de Saint-Simon. This is the 3rd and final volume in this edited and shortened version of Lucy Norton's translation. I was wowed by the intimate details of the French court, and by Ms. Norton's scholarship. Bravo!

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard slog this last bit. For the cherished nuggets of information, so many names and descriptions seemed endless.

[? · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How vitally important it therefore is to try to live so as to be done with worldly ambition before it and life both forsake us and exist trying and hoping always to make a good end."

[Sherwood Smith]

Love this edition! The minutae of Saint-Simon's court life makes a fascinating contrast to the sheer ebullience and galloping sense of humor of Liselotte von der Pfalz.