Enlightened Pleasures : Eighteenth-Century France and the New Epicureanism

by Thomas M. Kavanagh

• ISBN13: 9780300140941
• ISBN10: 0300140940
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2010-03-16
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Novelists, artists, and philosophers of the eighteenth century understood pleasure as a virtuea gift to be shared with one's companion, with a reader, or with the public. In this daring new book, Thomas Kavanagh overturns the prevailing scholarly tradition that views eighteenth-century France primarily as the incubator of the Revolution. Instead, Kavanagh demonstrates how the art and literature of the era put the experience of pleasure at the center of the cultural agenda, leading to advances in both ethics and aesthetics. Kavanagh shows that pleasure is not necessarily hedonistic or opposed to Enlightenment ideals in general; rather, he argues that the pleasure of individuals is necessary for the welfare of their community.

Author Biography

Thomas M. Kavanagh, the Augustus R. Street Professor of French and department chair at Yale University, is the author of Dice, Cards, Wheels: A Different History of French Culture. He lives in Woodbridge, CT.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A New Epicureanism	p. 1
The Pleasures of Failure: Jourdan's Le Guerrier philosophe	p. 10
Mirroring Pleasure: La Morlière's Angola	p. 31
Life-Writing as Epicurean Allegory: Thérèse philosophe	p. 52
The Esthetics of Pleasure: Du Bos and Boucher	p. 71
Rousseau's Eudemony of Liberty	p. 103
Laclos' Anthropology of Pleasure	p. 128
Recasting the Epicurean Novel: Mirabeau's La Morale des sens	p. 149
Theaters of Pleasure	p. 171
Conclusion: From Pleasure to Happiness	p. 207
Notes	p. 219
Illustration Credits	p. 243
Index	p. 245
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.