ABSTRACT
MME DE GENLIS e most versatile, prolic, and inuential writer of books for young readers as well as books on education in the late eighteenth century and at the start of the next was undoubtedly Mme de Genlis (StéphanieFélicité Ducrest de Saint-Aubin, Comtesse de Bruslart de Genlis and Marquise de Silléry; 1746-1830). e range of her works will be apparent in her repeated appearance in dierent chapters of this study. Like Mme Le Prince de Beaumont, she was a professional pedagogue, although her experience was in the highest social circles. From an aristocratic background, she was a lady-in-waiting to the Duchesse de Chartres at the Palais-Royal, and alleged former mistress to the duc, and became governess to their two-year-old twin daughters in 1779. ree years later, in an unprecedented move, she was nominated for the post of ‘gouverneur’ to their three sons. e outrage felt by many, notably by male contenders for the position, at the appointment of a woman in her early thirties to the powerful position of teacher of princes beyond the age at
which boys were normally removed from the tutelage of women, manifested itself in frequently scabrous personal attacks and hostile verses that promoted the view of her as an anomaly and ensured her a place in the public eye.1 Some subsequent commentators have dealt with her not much more kindly, invoking in particular her prolixity, romanticism, political opportunism, survival tactics, and colourful private life.2 Nevertheless, the success, inuence, and interest of her huge and varied literary output has entitled her to a signicant status in literary history as an educator, novelist, dramatist, social commentator, and writer of children’s books. Her extensive Mémoires inédits sur le dix-huitième siècle et la Révolution française, rst published in 1825-28, oer a fascinating and detailed (if oen subjective) account of the turbulent times through which she lived. ey also furnish valuable evidence of her practical experience as a teacher and of the development of her pedagogical principles.
