The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France by Feher, Michel
The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France by Feher, Michel

The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France

Irresistibly charming or shamelessly deceitful, remarkably persuasive or uselessly verbose, everything one loves to hate -- or...
$114.75 AUD
$114.75 AUD
SKU: 9780942299410
Product Type: Books
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Author: Michel Feher
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Subtotal: $114.75
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The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France by Feher, Michel

The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France

$114.75
The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France by Feher, Michel

The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France

$114.75
Author: Michel Feher
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Description

Irresistibly charming or shamelessly deceitful, remarkably persuasive or uselessly verbose, everything one loves to hate -- or hates to love -- about "French lovers" and their self-styled reputation can be traced to eighteenth-century libertine novels. Obsessed with strategies of seduction, endlessly speculating about the motives and goals of lovers, the idle aristocrats who populate these novels are exclusively preoccupied with their erotic lives. Deprived of other battlefields in which to fulfill their thirst for glory, libertine noblemen seek to conquer the women of their class without falling into the trap of love, while their female prey attempt to enjoy the pleasures of love without sacrificing their honor. Yet, in spite of the licentious mores of the declining Old Regime, men and women are still expected to pay lip service to an austere code of morals. Asked to constantly denounce their own practices, they find that their erotic war games are thus governed by a double constraint: whatever they feel or intend, the heroes of libertine literature can neither say what they mean nor mean what they say.

The Libertine Reader includes all the varieties of libertine strategies: from the successful cunning of Mme de T- in Denon's No Tomorrow to the ill-fated genius of Mme Merteuil in Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons; from the laborious sentimental education of Meilcour in Cr billon fils's Wayward Head and Heart to the hazardous master plan of the French ambassador in Pr vost's The Story of a Modern Greek Woman. The discrepancies between the characters' words and their true intentions -- the libertine double entendre -- are exposed through the speaking vaginas in Diderot's Indiscreet Jewels and the wandering soul of Amanzei in Cr billon fils's Sofa, while the contrasts between natural and civilized -- or degenerate -- erotics are the subjects of both Diderot's Supplement to Bougainville's Voyage and Laclos's On the Education of Women. Finally, Sade's Florville and Courval shows that destiny itself is on the side of libertinism.

Author: Michel Feher
Publisher: Zone Books
Published: 10/31/1997
Pages: 1328
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.50w x 1.60d
ISBN: 9780942299410
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/15/1997 pg. 75

About the Author
Feher, Michel: - Michel Feher, a Belgian philosopher, is the author of Powerless by Design: The Age of the International Community and the editor of Nongovernmental Politics and Europe at a Crossroads, among other titles. Founder of Cette France-là, a monitoring group on French immigration policy, Feher is also a founding editor of Zone Books.
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