"Secrets of Marie Antoinette", A Collection of Letters", par Olivier Bernier

Secrets of Marie Antoinette : a collection of letters de
Olivier Bernier
Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1986, 326 p

http://lccn.loc.gov/86012117

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Informations d'édition:

Hardcover: 326 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (September 25, 1985)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385191561
ISBN-13: 978-0385191562
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches


Un commentaire circonstancié:

This book was published in the UK under the title of "imperial Mother, Royal Daugher". It is actually the correspondence between Marie Antoinette of France and her mother Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.
This book is interesting for a number of reasons. It somwhat suprising how well these women expressed themselves to each other in the mail. It also brings to light some of the contraditions of Marie Antoinette's position in France. She was exhorted by her mother to be a good frenchwoman, but in her heart to never forget that her first loyalty should always be to Austria and her.
Royal marriages in centuries past were made for political alliances and this always put the partner who went to a new country in a difficult position as far as loyalty went. Marie Antoinette's solution was to start lying or not telling her mother things. Unfortuntley for her, her mother had a household spy by the name of Mercey (who went to france with marie) to report back everything she omitted. These letters are also included.
You end up with a well rounded picture of a young lady in deep over her head. It's a world of pomp, pain and deception. This book is worth getting if only to see a completly different view of these people than you would get out of a formal biography....their life in their own words.
http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Marie-Antoinette-Olivier-Bernier/dp/0385191561


Nous avons bien entendu corrigé mentalement "Mercey" en "Mercy".   

D'autres internautes sont plutôt désabusés:

Commentaire 1 par Viola7 de Brisbane, Queensland, Australia le samedi 19 avril 2014

6 sur 10
This book made me quite angry, because it was full of myths and untruths about Marie Antoinette, I felt. I remember it as interesting and well-written, however.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/12617456

Une autre couverture:



http://www.paperbackswap.com/Secrets-Marie-Antoinette-Olivier-Bernier/book/0880640642/

Il y a celui-ci, aussi.
Est-ce le même ? un autre ?



". . . [A] behind-the-scenes peek at Versailles . . . and an account of a fraught mother-daughter relationship. . . . [A] graceful guide . . ." - The New York Times. This fascinating and poignant collection of letters between Marie Antoinette, the doomed dauphine and future queen of France, and her mother, Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, provide a revealing portrait of the legendary queen's tragic life and the age in which she lived. Beginning in 1770 when the young princess departed for France and ending with Maria Theresa's death in 1780, these intimate letters reveal the hostility the young dauphine encountered at Versailles, her flouting of court etiquette, and her interference in court politics. Maria Theresa offers her daughter constant advice on everything from matters of state to sex. These remarkable letters are superbly translated by Olivier Bernier, an acclaimed expert on eighteenth-century France, who also provides extensive commentary. "[Marie Antoinette] remains an unforgettable royalist heroine . . . she never fails to move us. [Olivier Bernier's] vision of complicated events is always clear and understandable; his theories of history rethought. . . . Donnez-moi mon Bernier!" - Vogue.

"[This book] will change our picture of eighteenth-century France and deepen our understanding of power, naiveté, and corruption." - Gloria Steinem.

un autre, on dirait.