Scudéry

Scudéry is a surname associated with a prominent French literary family of the 17th century, chiefly Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) and her brother Georges de Scudéry (1601–1667). The pair were central figures in French literary culture, and their work helped shape early modern fiction and salon society.

Madeleine de Scudéry was one of the era’s most prolific writers and a leading salonnière in Paris. She produced a large body of prose romances and dialogues that contributed to the development of the French novel and the conventions of courtship and virtue in literature. Her best-known work, Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus, published 1649–1653 and credited to both Madeleine and Georges, is a ten-volume romance often cited as the longest novel published in French. She also authored Clélie, princesse de Clèves (1644–1655) and other romances, and she cultivated a literary network through her influential Parisian salon, which attracted many writers and readers and helped disseminate new ideas.

Georges de Scudéry, Madeleine’s brother, was a productive playwright and novelist who collaborated with Madeleine on Artamène and contributed his own works to the Parisian theatre and literary scene. His collaborations and writings reinforced the Scudéry name as a significant marker of 17th-century French prose and drama.

Legacy: The Scudéry surname remains associated with early modern French literature and the culture of salons that supported female authors and the evolving form of the French novel. Their works illustrate the era’s blending of romance, social manners, and literary experimentation within a refined, cosmopolitan milieu.