Mademoiselle Poulain de Nogent (1750–1800)

Very little is known about the life of Mademoiselle Poulain de Nogent. She was born in Nogent-sur-Seine in north central France around 1750, and died in Paris around 1800. Some elements of her life and character can be construed from her work as a poet, essayist, and novelist. She wrote about the reign of King Louis XIV and a short history of the Abbey of Port Royal, the center of the Jansenist movement, Nouvelle histoire abrégée de l'abbaye de Port-Royal (1786). Her work was favorably received in the magazines and newspapers of the day, such as the Journal général de France, L’Esprit des journaux français et étrangers, Journal littéraire de Nancy, and the Journal encyclopédique ou universel. Her books included Anecdotes intéressantes de l'amour conjugal (1770); Lettres de Madame la comtesse de la Rivière à Madame la baronne de Neufpont, son amie (1776), one of the few epistolary novels based on the friendship between women; and Poésies diverses (1787). We can assume that she achieved significant fame given that an entry in the Grand dictionnaire de géographie of 1863 calls Nogent-sur-Seine the "home town of Mademoiselle Poulain." Queen Marie Antoinette was known to be a fan, she had two of Mademoiselle Poulain de Nogent's books in her library at the Petit Trianon. She is listed in the Dictionnaire des femmes des Lumières by Valérie André and Huguette Krief.