Virtue, Happiness and Duclos’ Histoire de Madame de Luz

Charles Pinot Duclos' biography dramatizes the evolution from the rigid separation of the aristocratic and plebeian classes in the seventeenth century to the gradual social democratization in the eighteenth. This son of a Brittany merchant from the little village of Dinan rose to social prominence in the aristocratic salon circles of Paris and to literary pre- eminence, as attest contemporary memoirs, the success of his novels, histories and moral writings as well as his official positions - a member of two academies, Royal Historiographer, Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy -a feat nearly impossible in the stratified society of seventeenth- century France. Moreover, not only was Duclos, the exceptional con- versationalist, a persona grata among the Parisian social elite, but he was also aligned with the progressive philosophical forces, a friend or ally of the foremost mid-century men of letters. Indeed, as Karl Toth has so ably demonstrated, Duclos perhaps more than any other important writer 1 of his day can be considered the true representative of his Age. 1 Karl Toth, Woman and Rococo in France (London, 1931), p. 29. For amplified documentation on the character and life of Duclos consult the following sources: Louis Simon Auger, "Notice sur Duclos," Oeuvres completes de Duclos, Paris, 1806. Emile Henriot, "Un honnete homme au XVIIIe siecle -Duclos," La Nouvelle Revue (oct. -nov. 1910), XVII, pp. 553-64; (nov. -dec. 1910) XVIII, pp. 124-33. Leo Le Bourgo, Un homme de lettres au XVIII" siecle, Duclos, sa vie et ses ouvrages (Bordeaux, 1902).