The novel was an enormous commercial success at the time of its publication, and readers outside of Paris had to wait months to receive copies. The novel also sparked several public debates, including one about its authorship, and another about the wisdom of the Princess's decision to confess her adulterous feelings to her husband.
One of the earliest psychological novels, and also the first roman d'analyse (analysis novel), La Princesse de Clèves marked a major turning point in the history of the novel, which to that point had largely been used to tell romances, implausible stories of heroes overcoming odds to find a happy marriage, with a myriad of subplots and running up to twelve volumes. La Princesse de Clèves turned that on its head with a highly realistic plot, introspective language that explored the characters' inner thoughts and emotions, and few but important subplots concerning the lives of other nobles.
List of English translations
- Anonymous (Bentley and Magnes, 1679) – "Rendered into English by a Person of Quality".
- Thomas Sergeant Perry (James R. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1892) – revised by John D. Lyons (Norton Critical Editions, 1993).
- H. Ashton (George Routledge & Sons Ltd, c.1925).
- Nancy Mitford (Euphorion Books, 1950) – revised by Leonard Tancock (Penguin Classics, 1978).
- Walter J. Cobb (Signet Classic, 1961).
- Mildred Sarah Greene (University of Mississippi, Romance Monographs, no. 35, 1979).
- Terence Cave (Oxford World's Classics, 1992).
- Robin Buss (Penguin Classics, 1992).
- David Harrison (Lever Press, 2022), co-edited with Hélène Bilis, Jean-Vincent Blanchard, and Hélène Visentin
