author
Hélisenne de Crenne
A bold voice from the French Renaissance, this writer is remembered for emotionally intense fiction, inventive letters, and a rare early female perspective in print. Her work explores love, learning, and the pressures placed on women in her time.
1 Audiobook
Les angoysses douloureuses qui procedent damours
by Hélisenne de Crenne
About the author
Writing under the name Hélisenne de Crenne, she was a French Renaissance novelist, letter-writer, and translator. Scholars generally identify her with Marguerite Briet, a gentlewoman from Abbeville who was born around 1510 and was still alive after 1552, though some details of her life remain uncertain.
She is best known for Les Angoisses douloureuses qui procèdent d’amour, a highly influential work often noted for its passionate style and unusual psychological depth. She also published Les Épîtres familières et invectives and Le Songe, and translated parts of Virgil’s Aeneid, showing both literary ambition and strong humanist learning.
Today, Hélisenne de Crenne is often celebrated as one of the earliest important women writers in French prose. Her books stand out for the way they bring a woman's voice to questions of desire, reputation, education, and freedom.