 The letters of Mademoiselle de Scudéry involve two distinct types. The first are fictitious: Amorous Letters from Various Contemporary Authors (1641). Imitating Ovid, this collection provides model-letters for the expression of love by interested parties, including women expressing affection for each other. The actual correspondence of Scudéry is currently dispersed among various anthologies and archives. A prolix epistler, Scudéry corresponded with the intellectual elite of French society. Bossuet and Fénelon figure among her  correspondents.[19]  Of special philosophical interest is Scudéry’s correspondence with Catherine Descartes, the niece of René Descartes. Both correspondents reject the uncle’s mechanistic explanation of animal life. 