In The New Criterion in 2008, Joseph Epstein reviews some extraordinary memoirs. An excerpt:
At Versailles, information was the most precious of commodities. Those who were expert at gathering it were in the strongest position. As Jacques Revel puts it, “to gather information was both to maximize one’s chances and, just as important, to minimize one’s risks.” Gossip was of course a primary source of information and, as the Duc de Saint-Simon makes us realize, the natural outlet of a widely curious and genuinely critical mind. This le petit duc possessed in excelsis, and they had everything to do with making him a great writer and his Memoirs a landmark work.
[Photo by Elena Rabkina at Unsplash]
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