Marthe Bibesco: Difference between revisions

Despite her wide circle of friends, and the birth of her daughter Valentine in 1903, Marthe was bored. In 1905, when George was sent by the [[King of Romania|Romanian king]] [[Carol I of Romania|Carol I]] on a diplomatic mission to [[Mozzafar-al-Din Shah|Mozzafar-al-Din]], [[Shah]] of [[Iran]], she eagerly embarked on the trip, recording her observations in a journal. Along the way, she stopped at [[Yalta]], where she encountered the exiled [[Imperial Russia|Russian]] writer [[Maxim Gorki]]. It was in 1908, at the suggestion of [[Maurice Barrès]], that Marthe completed and published her impressions of her Persian trip. The French critics and writers were enthusiastic and extremely complimentary. The travel memoirs, ''Les Huit Paradis'' ("The Eight Paradises"), launched her on a lifelong career as a successful writer of both nonfiction and novels. She became the toast of [[Belle Époque|Belle Epoque]] Paris, moving easily among the literary, aristocratic and political power elites. She was awarded the [[Prix de l'Académie française]] and met [[Marcel Proust]], who sent her a letter praising her book: "You are not only a splendid writer, Princess, but a sculptor of words, a musician, a purveyor of scents, a poet".

 

 

Among the European nobility, divorce was [[social death]], but [[wiktionary:dalliance|dalliance]] was definitely not. While Marthe and George continued in what was sometimes a mutually supportive partnership, they pursued their own interests. The French prince Charles-Louis de Beauvau-Craon fell in love with Marthe, leading to an affair that lasted for a decade. In Paris, she also encountered the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Abbé]] Mugnier, who converted her from her [[Eastern Orthodox]] faith, and she began an extensive, frank correspondence with him that was to last 36 years.