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TheMap of Tendre (Carte de Tendre orCarte du Tendre) was a French map of an imaginary land called Tendre produced by several hands (includingCatherine de Rambouillet). It appeared as an engraving (attributed toFrançois Chauveau) in the first part ofMadeleine de Scudéry's 1654-61 novelClélie. The map represents the path towards love according to theprécieuses of the time period.
The map shows a geography entirely based around the theme oflove according to thePrécieuses of that era.
'The way through this pastoral country of theaffections begins atNouvelle Amitié and leads (ignoring dead-ends such as the Lake of Indifference) by three alternative routes to eitherTendre-sur-Reconnaissance,Tendre-sur-Inclination, orTendre-sur-Estime.[1]
On the map the river of Inclination flows directly to Tendre-sur-Inclination, showing mutual affection as the shortest way to love. Unsuccessful suitors, however, have to find their way to love ("Tendre") through two possible routes. One leads through the villages of "Billet Doux" (Love Letter"), "Petits Soins" (Little Trinkets) and so forth and ends at "Tendre-sur-Estime", the suitor having successfully convinced the lady of his worth. The other route leads to "Tendre-sur-Reconnaissance", the names of the villages showing how patience, faithfulness, and constant attention will eventually soften a lady's heart.
Straying from those routes is not recommended, as one might fall into the "lake of Indifference".
Passion by contrast was left on the fringes, where 'liesLa Mer Dangereuse, rocky but otherwise uncharted, and beyond that again areTerres Inconnues'.[2]
'The enormously popular and much imitated Carte de Tendre...became a symbol for the politically and culturally independent, aristocraticsalonnières '.[3]
From a later,feminist perspective, 'in this geography of sentiment the personal is indeed political...placing the female prerogative at the center of civilization'[4] by privileging 'the private amorous contract contingent on woman's inclination'.[5]
Jeffrey N. Peters,Mapping Discord: Allegorical Cartography in Early Modern French Writing. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2004.
