Le Roman comique (1651–57) Cyrano de Bergerac (Hector Savinien) (1619–1655) Histoire comique des Etats et Empires de la Lune (1657) Histoire comique des Etats et Empires du Soleil (1662) In the second half of the 17th century, contemporary settings would be also used in many classical nouvelles (novellas—especially as a moral critique of contemporary society). The Nouvelle classique By 1660, the multi-volume, baroque historical novel had largely fallen out of fashion. The tendency was for much shorter works (nouvelles or petits romans), without complex structure or adventurous elements (pirates, shipwrecks, kidnappings). This movement away from the baroque novel was supported by theoretical discussions on novel structure, which sought to apply the same Aristotelian and Horacian concepts of the three unities, decorum and verisimilitude that writers had imposed on the theater. For example, Georges de Scudéry, in his preface to Ibrahim (1641), suggested that a "reasonable limit" for a novel's plot (a form of "unity of time") would be one year. Similarly, in his discussion on La Princesse de Clèves, the chevalier de Valincourt criticized the inclusion of ancillary stories within the main plot (a form of "unity of action"). An interest in love, psychological analysis, moral dilemmas and social constraints permeates these novels. When the action was placed in an historical setting, this was increasingly a setting in the recent past; although still filled with anachronisms, these nouvelles historiques demonstrated an interest in historical detail. A number of these short novels recounted the "secret history" of a famous event (like Villedieu's Annales galantes), linking the action to an amorous intrigue; these were called histoires galantes. Some of these short novels told stories of the contemporary world (such as Préchac's L'Illustre Parisienne). Important nouvelles classiques were: Jean Renaud de Segrais Nouvelles françoises (1658) Madame de Lafayette La princesse de Montpensier (1662) Madame de Villedieu Journal amoureux (1669) Jean Donneau de Visé Nouvelles galantes et comiques (1669) Madame de Villedieu Annales galantes (1670) Madame de Lafayette Zaïde (1671) Madame de Villedieu Amour des grands hommes (1671) César Vichard de Saint-Réal Don Carlos (1672) Madame de Villedieu Les Désordres de l'amour (1675) Jean de Préchac L'Héroïne mousquetaire (1677) Jean de Préchac Le voyage de Fontainebleau (1678) Madame de Lafayette La Princesse de Clèves (1678) Jean de Préchac L'Illustre Parisienne, histoire galante et véritable (1679) The best-known of all of these is Madame de Lafayette's La Princesse de Clèves. Reduced to essentially three characters,