The Forbidden Best-sellers of Pre-revolutionary FranceHis latest book vibrates with the strange political and literary energies of ancien régime France. The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France traces the merging of philosophical, sexual, and anti-monarchical interests into the pulp fiction of the 1780s, banned books that make fascinating reading more than two centuries later. French literature of the eighteenth century means to us today Rousseau and Voltaire and the "classic" texts that, we imagine, gave rise to the Revolution. Yet very few of the standard works of the Enlightenment were as widely read as books whose names we have never heard, books that were the currency of a huge literary underground during the reign of Louis XVI. Included in this volume are Darnton's translations of excerpts from three of these works. After twenty-five years of research, Darnton has summarized his findings in one brilliant work that examines the reciprocal relationship between private literature and the public world, the (illegal) spread of Enlightenment thought, and the interesting possibility that the writings of some not-so-famous authors contributed to the fall of the French aristocracy. |
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abbé affairs Anecdotes sur Mme appeared Barry's Bastille Besançon best-sellers Bibliothèque book trade booksellers Café catalogues Cézary Charmet to STN Chartier Choiseul chroniques scandaleuses clandestine comte comtesse du Barry court culture despotism duc d'Aiguillon duc de Choiseul edition eighteenth century Encyclopédie Enlightenment Eradice everything Father Dirrag forbidden books française France François Furet French genre happiness Histoire Ibid ideas Keith Baker king King's L'An letters lettre de cachet libelles libellistes Linguet literary livres philosophiques Louis XV Louis-Sébastien Mercier Maupeou mazarinades Mercier ministers mistress Mlle Mme du Barry Mme la comtesse monarchy Mornet narrator nature Neuchâtel Old Regime pamphlets Parisian parlements philosophical books pleasure police political portier des Chartreux prince printed privée de Louis public opinion published readers religion Revolution Rigaud Rousseau royal seems sexual sort soul STN's story Tableau de Paris Thérèse philosophe thing tion took Versailles Voltaire