Letters of Mistress Henly Published by Her Friend

This moving epistolary novel, a provocative success when it appeared in 1784, appears now in a fluid new translation. In a mere six letters, de Charriere questions both the possibility of happiness in marriage and the value of the Enlightenment ideal, the man of reason. An orphan of good birth seeking security, Mistress Henley marries a well-to-do young widower who promises a peaceful life in the country. But Mr. Henley's ``reason and moderation,'' which the new wife at first respects, soon seem more like prejudice and indifference. He dispassionately resists her attempts to introduce change--such as the redecoration of her bedroom--into his ordered life. After a romantic mishap involving the servants, she writes, ``He is astonished that we excitable souls fall prey to each others' outbursts and exaggerations.'' His cool borders on the callous when he wonders whether her emotional nature should preclude the pregnant Mistress Henley from nursing their future infant. In what the authors of the fine introduction call a modern ending, de Charriere leaves open whether her despairing heroine, torn between residual admiration for her husband and alienation from him, will reconcile herself to her life. (Jan.)