The text of this Norton Critical Edition is that of Thomas SargentPerry's 1892 translation, indisputably the translation that has bestserved readers in English. Reprinted repeatedly over the last onehundred years, the Perry translation is a classic in its own right.After careful review, the editor has corrected minor infelicities oftranslation (necessary to remain true to Lafayette's text) and updatedvocabulary. To experience the innovation of Lafayette's writing, it is necessary tounderstand the critical resistance it met with in seventeenth-centuryFrance. "Contemporary Reactions" includes five assessments of The Princess ofClèves'”by Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette herself, Roger de Bussy-Rabutinand Marie de Sévigné, Jean-Baptiste-Henry du Trousset de Valincour,Jean-Antoine de Charnes, and Du Plaisir'”following its controversialpublication. John Lyons's translations for this Norton Critical Editionmake these reactions available in English for the first time. "Criticism" includes eleven modern studies of the novel, five of whichappear here in English for the first time, by Jean Fabre, Michel Butor,Jean Rousset, Helen Karen Kaps, Gérard Genette, Roger Francillon, KurtWeinberg, Peggy Kamuf, Erica Harth, Joan DeJean, and Laurence Gregario. A Glossary of Characters and a Selected Bibliography are also included.