The New International Encyclopædia/Princesse de Cleves, La

PRINCESSE DE CLEVES, prăN′sĕs′ de klā̇v, La. A novel by Madame de la Fayette (1677). The scene is the time of Henry II., but the plot is imaginary. The heroine loves the Duke de Nemours, but duty conquers, and her husband, though aware of her distress, never knows the name of his rival, a painful situation delicately treated. These characters stand for the author, her husband, and La Rochefoucauld.