Cornélie Wouters de Vassé
Cornélie-Pétronille-Bénédicte Wouters (October 14, 1737 – April 3, 1802), known as the baroness of Vassé, was a Belgian woman of letters known for her work as a translator in the 18th century.
Biography[edit]
Cornélie Wouters de Vassé was born in Brussels in 1737. She was one of at least seven children born to Jacques Corneille and Catherine Marguerite Wouters.[1]
She moved to Paris after the death of her husband, the wealthy baron of Vassé, and it was there that she began to write and translate for a living in 1782.[2][3] She often collaborated with her sister Marie Thérèse Wouters, who helped her translate works into French from English, including The British Plutarch by Thomas Mortimer.[1]
In 1790, she became the only woman of the period to have contributed to the public debate over Jews' rights in France, producing a pamphlet in their defense. She argued they should be given full civil and political rights, without having to give up their religious beliefs.[4]
She died in Paris in 1802.[1]
Selected works[edit]
Writing[edit]
- L’Art de corriger et de rendre les hommes constans (dialogue), 1782.
- Le Nouveau Continent (philosophical tale), 1783.
- Le Char volant, ou Voyage dans la lune (philosophical tale), 1783.
Translation[edit]
- Traduction du théâtre anglois depuis l’origine des spectacles jusqu’à nos jours, 12 vol., (with Marie Wouters) 1784–1787.
- La Vie des hommes illustres d’Angleterre, d’Écosse et d’Irlande, ou le Plutarque anglois, from Thomas Mortimer's The British Plutarch, 1785.
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Klaus, Carrie F. (2004). "Marie Thérèse Wouters". Société Internationale Pour l'Etude des Femmes de L'Ancien Régime (in French). Archived from the original on 2011-02-24.
- ^ "Lot n° 43". La Gazette Drouot (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-25.
- ^ Henriet, Maurice (1918). "Correspondance inédite entre Thomas et Barthe (1759-1785) (suite)". Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France. 25 (3): 455–478. ISSN 0035-2411. JSTOR 40518140.
- ^ Klaus, Carrie F. (2007). "Keeping Ahead of the English? A Defence of Jews by Cornélie Wouters, Baroness of Vasse (1790)". Virtue, liberty, and toleration : political ideas of European women, 1400-1800. Jacqueline Broad, Karen Green. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4020-5895-0. OCLC 188072448.
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