GOURNAY, MARIE DE JARS de. - French woman of letters, b. in Paris on 6 Oct. 1565, d. there on 13 July 1645.
She taught herself Latin and Greek and, while still very young, enthusiastically read Montaigne’s Essais, whose author adopted her as his daughter. She frequented the court, was held in high esteem by Henri IV, protected by Richelieu, and honoured by the literary public. She defended the Jesuits, thereby incurring the wrath of the enemies of the Order, and upheld Montaigne’s literary ideal against the theories of Malherbe and preciosity. She edited the definitive edition of the Essais (1593) and wrote verse and moral treatises (Traité sur l'éducation des enfants de France).
BIBL.: Works: a first edition of her works appeared in Paris in 1626 under the title Ombres de la demoiselle de G.; it was followed by others in 1634 and 1641 under the title Les adsis ou les presens de la demoiselle de G. Studies: M. Bayle-L. Feugère, Mlle de G., étude sur sa vie et ses ouvrages, Paris 1853; M. Schiff, La fille d'alliance de Montaigne, M. de G., ibid. 1910; J. Dappen, M. de J. de G., die « Wahltochter » Montaigne, Düsseldorf 1927; L. M. Richardson, The forerunners of feminism in French literature of the Renaissance from Christine of Pisa to M. de G., Baltimore 1929 (passim). Elena Bosticco