Persian Letters

by Montesquieu; Mauldon, Margaret; Kahn, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780192806352
• ISBN10: 0192806351
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-05-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

'Oh! Monsieur is Persian? That's most extraordinary! How can someone be Persian?'Two Persian travellers, Usbek and Rica, arrive in Paris just before the death of Louis XIV and in time to witness the hedonism and financial crash of the Regency. In their letters home they report on visits to the theatre and scientific societies, and observe the manners and flirtations of politesociety, the structures of power and the hypocrisy of religion. Irony and bitter satire mark their comparison of East and West and their quest for understanding. Unsettling news from Persia concerning the female world of the harem intrudes on their new identities and provides a suspenseful plot oferotic jealousy and passion.This pioneering epistolary novel and work of travel-writing opened the world of the West to its oriental visitors and the Orient to its Western readers. This is the first English translation based on the original text, revealing this lively work as Montesquieu first intended.

Author Biography

Andrew Kahn is University Lecturer in Russian at Oxford University.
Margaret Mauldon is the distinguished translator of Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Diderot's Rameau's Nephew, and other works.

Table of Contents

Select Bibliography
Note on the Chronology of the Persian Letters
A Chronology of Montesquieu
List of Characters
Persian Letters
Preface	p. 3
Letters	p. 4
Supplementary Letters	p. 214
Some Reflections on the Persian Letters	p. 227
Extracts from Montesquieu's Sources	p. 229
Explanatory Notes	p. 245
Concordance of Letter Numbers	p. 269
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