start of this volume, Lemaître introduces the life of Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a passionate and sensitive comedienne, discussing her early hardships, romantic failures, and tumultuous marriage to the actor Valmore. The author portrays Marceline as a complex character who has endured significant emotional pain, including betrayal and loss, which deeply influenced her poetry. Lemaître uses excerpts from her intimate correspondence to illustrate the emotional depth of her experiences, highlighting themes of love, suffering, and resilience in her life and work. The opening establishes a foundation for the exploration of Desbordes-Valmore's literary contributions against the backdrop of her personal narrative, setting the tone for an empathetic examination of her artistry. (This is an automatically generated summary.)