ABSTRACT
In her novel Histoire de Sapho (1654), Madeleine de Scudéry maintains that through the art of conversation
we may recount a love affair to the most censorious of women and make a trifle agreeable to the solemn and serious … There ought to be a certain joie de vivre that reigns [and] inspires in the hearts of the whole company a disposition to be amused by everything and bored by nothing. 1
