Published May 2014

Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour
Edited by Mary S. Trouille
Critical Texts 33

  • ‘Mary S. Trouille’s critical edition ... represents an invaluable tool to discover and understand Rétif de la Bretonne. It is the first edition of this novel since Pierre Testud’s and Daniel Baruch’s own editions of the text (now out of print). This new MHRA volume therefore fills in a lacuna, and it does so authoritatively. This beautiful edition of Ingénue Saxancour is adorned by 27 figures: portraits of Rétif and his relatives or friends, illustrations from his works, and engravings of eighteenth-century Paris. The volume is indeed not only an introduction to a novel but also an invitation to Rétif's universe."’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51, 2015, 87
  • ‘Trouille presents a novel that remains as unsettling for the modern reader as it was when it was first published. It offers a valuable entry point for scholars and students alike into the dark Restivian world.’ — Gemma Tidman, Modern Language Review 112.1, January 2017, 252-53 (full text online)

Published February 2017

Rétif de la Bretonne, Ingénue Saxancour; or, The Wife Separated from Her Husband
Translated by Mary S. Trouille
New Translations 6

  • ‘Mary S. Trouille’s translation admirably renders the feel of the original, does not embellish, and gives the English reader access to the source with a minimum of stylistic anachronism... Trouille’s ample introduction provides a thorough and thoughtful account of the historical and legal context of the work, its place within Rétif’s writings and contemporaneous European literature, and crucial elements of the author’s biography.’ — James A. Steintrager, Eighteenth-Century Fiction 31.4, 2019, 769-71