The Carte de Tendre
A 17th Century Geography of Love, Hate, and Indifference

Long before “Uncle Wiggley” and “Dungeons and Dragons,” a 17th century enchantress devised a wildly popular game to explore the various paths and pitfalls of human relationships. She was Madeleine de Scudéry, the secret author of the most popular novels in Europe at the time, and her map of this kingdom of love first came about as a teaching tool for her most ardent admirer, a young man fifteen years her junior. Soon all Paris was abuzz as copies of the map were passed hand to hand. Each recipient weighed his or her own progress in the agonizing pursuit of a beloved.

Intriguingly, modern behaviorists acknowledge that unmarried Madeleine, officially known as the Virgin of the Marais, was dead-on accurate in her analysis of sexual attraction and outcomes. (Madeleine’s own suitor, the poet Paul Pellisson, was kept in delicious anguish for many months, negotiating the various road blocks and perils, until…)