Olympe de Gouges
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In 1784 she published an epistolary novel inspired by Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Her novel claimed to consist of authentic letters exchanged with her father the Marquis de Pompignan, with the names changed. "Madame Valmont" thus represented de Gouges herself, and "Monsieur de Flaucourt" was Pompignan.cite-ref-mousset26-54-0[54] The full title of the novel, published shortly after Pompignan's death, indicated its claim: Mémoires de Madame de Valmont sur l'ingratitude et la cruauté de la famille des Flaucourt avec la sienne dont les sieurs de Flaucourt on reçu tant de services (Madame de Valmont's Memoirs on the Ingratitude and Cruelty of the Flaucourt Family Towards her Own, which Rendered such Services to the Sirs Flaucourt).cite-ref-mousset28-55-0[55]
As a playwright, she charged into the contemporary political controversies and was often in the vanguard.cite-ref-auto2-56-0[56] Alongside Marquis de Condorcet, de Gouges is considered one of France's earliest public opponents of slavery.
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