The Prison Narratives of Jeanne Guyon

Ronney Mourad and Dianne Guenin-Lelle provide here the first English translation of the Prison Narratives written by the seventeenth-century French mystic and Quietist, Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717). Guyon was a fascinating figure in the court of Louis XIV and, although she was marginalized and ignored by French historians for two centuries after her death, she became a major figure in the development of transatlantic Protestant spirituality in the eighteenth century. Guyon's narrative describes her confinement between 1695 and 1703 in various prisons, including the dreaded Bastille. It also maps, in moving and unforgettable detail, the political and religious hegemony that sought to destroy her reputation and erase her from history. Guyon kept the text private and it remained undiscovered for almost three centuries until an archival version was found and published in 1992 under the title Récits de Captivité (Prison Narratives). This translation is not only the first to appear in English, but opens with a comprehensive introduction that represents the most detailed examination of the Prison Narratives presently available in English or French.