Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus (English: Artamène, or Cyrus the Great) is a novel sequence, originally published in ten volumes in the 17th century. The title pages credit the work to French writer Georges de Scudéry, but it is usually attributed to his sister and fellow writer Madeleine. At 1,954,300 words,[1] it is considered one of the longest novels ever published.

Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus
Title page, part 3
AuthorMadeleine de Scudéry and/or Georges de Scudéry
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
GenreRoman-fleuve
Publication date
1649–53
Pages13,095

"Scudery’s major classical references and source-material comes from HerodotusHistories and Xenophon's Cyropaedia. Other sources include Plutarch, Justin, Polyaenus, Pliny, Ovid, Strabon, and the Bible."[2] However, it is a roman à clef about contemporary personages.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ Word count of the online edition using wc -w
  2. ^ Arabella’a Romances
  3. ^ John Conley (2016). "Madeleine de Scudéry". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 29 February 2016.

External links edit