ABSTRACT
In 1664, when the genre of the nouvelle historique was just coming into its own in France, the erudite scholar Pierre-Daniel Huet composed a history of the entire novel form in which he tried to account for French supremacy in the genre. Eighteenth-century France cannot offer illustrations of literary salons that resemble those of the seventeenth in their fascination with literature and their pursuit of new literary values. According to Huet's reasoning, women in France have created what he terms a "rampart" of virtue, to replace the real walls society usually builds around them, and men use language to climb these walls. The role and presence of France's language mirrors the identity of the country itself. In Huet's assessment, sociability and gallantry, traits traditionally identified with France, have developed because of women's particular status and especially freedom in society.
