ABSTRACT
Translation was a favourite subject for discussion; Gabriel Naud library contained a notable collection of the works of the Pliade poets, and of Latin works which he lent to anyone interested in translating them. Colletet's readers were for the most part interested in literary criticism, discussion of new ideas, and improvisation in short belle's letters rather than letters savants. Statyra'n Statira', was the pseudonym of the famous Renaissance savante Hlne de Surgres, a lady-in-waiting to Catherine de Medici Known as la docte de la Cour', she frequented the salon of Catherine de Clermont, Marchale de Retz. Comparing the Van Schurman Rivet Latin letters with Colletet's mondain version leads one to conclude that the latter undercut Van Schurman's rhetorical and dialectical achievement. Rivet continued to operate in a hierarchical mode of communication as befitting his status and ideology. Therein lays the political efficacy of Van Schurman's appeal and lasting legacy.
