"Journey through Mlle. De Scudery’s Carte de Tendre" by Gloria Orenstein, Femspec Issue 3.2

La Carte de Tendre or the Map of the country of Tenderness made its debut in the first volume of Madeleine De Scudery’s novel CLELIE (1654).  It is a map of the mythical country of Tenderness, which is also a metaphor for Mlle. De Scudery’s heart and for her Salon. As a salon game that soon became the rage in 17th cent. Parisian salon society, it can be viewed as a precursor of many board games, and, one might also claim that it foreshadows certain contemporary computer games. However, I see it more as a map of Mlle. De Scudery’s desire, and of the emotional geography of the territory of her political ambition and her sexual imagination.