The peak of literary activity (1664-1679)

In July 1664, La Fontaine entered the service of the Dowager Duchess of Orléans22. He then
divided his time between Paris and Château-Thierry as a gentleman - which ensured his
ennoblement23.

In December of the same year, he made a remarkable entrance on the public literary scene,
with the publication by the bookseller Claude Barbin of a slim collection of short stories in
verse from Boccaccio and Ariosto by M. de L. F. [archive ], the longest of which, entitled
"Mona Lisa or the infidelity of women", and taken from canto XXVIII of Ariosto's furious
Roland, recounts the pleasant adventures of King Astolphe and his friend Mona Lisa
(Giocondo in Italian), all two deceived by their wives and left to travel the world to check if
there are faithful women. The story had already been the subject of two adaptations in
French24, when La Fontaine composed his own in irregular verse and taking great liberties
with Ariosto's story. At the same time, a certain Jean de Bouillon, secretary to Gaston
d'Orléans, gave a version, in octosyllables, closer in narration to the Italian original, but less
distinctly licentious than that of La Fontaine25. The comparison of the two texts and their
different ways of "imitating" the same source sparked a literary quarrel in the Parisian salons
which culminated in an astonishing wager (a bet of one hundred pistoles) between two
representatives of each of the "parties". Asked by one of the bettors to provide him with an
argument in favor of La Fontaine's short story, an expert and anonymous pen acquitted
himself of it in a brilliant essay of comparative criticism, which will be published in 1669
under the title of Dissertation on the Mona Lisa26 and of which in his old age Nicolas
Boileau will claim paternity27.