Overview

A lavishly presented tasting menu of excerpts from eighteenth-century libertine literature, expertly paired with delectable period artworks. That which both sexes then called 'love' was a kind of commerce that they entered into, often without inclination, where convenience was always preferred to sympathy, interest to pleasure, and vice to feeling. Thus did one novelist describe the spirit that pervaded the twilight years of the Ancient Regime, the heyday of the libertine. Today this word typically evokes the excesses of a Sade or the cruel manipulations of Dangerous Liaisons, but the game of love, as the jaded French aristocracy played it, was most often characterized by a refinement of speech and manner, a taste for nuance over forthright assertion that finds its counterpart in the paintings of Fragonard and the operas of Mozart. The amours of the libertine also coloured the intellectual life of the time, figuring into the great debates about natural instinct versus social institutions, and the proper limits of personal freedom. This sumptuous volume re-creates the milieu of the libertine in all its lively decadence, bringing together more than eighty brief selections from eighteenth-century French literature, grouped into eight broad themes-including tales of seduction, fantasies of exotic lands, and the discoveries of youth-and introduced by an eminent French scholar. These pieces, which encompass fiction, drama, verse, essays, and letters, are the work of nearly sixty writers, some familiar to Anglophone readers-such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and yes, the Marquis de Sade-and some much less so; indeed, many of the selections are hitherto untranslated. Each excerpt is accompanied by splendid reproductions of period artworks, many rarely seen, by Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and numerous others, that echo and heighten the mood of the texts. Racy, thought-provoking, and a treat for the eyes, The Libertine is the perfect gift for litterateurs, art lovers, roues, and coquettes. AUTHOR: Michel Delon, professor of French literature at the Sorbonne, is the author of several studies of the eighteenth-century libertine. He has edited the works of Diderot and Sade for the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, as well as Routledge's Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. 400 colour illustrations

Full Product Details

Author:   Michel Delon ,  Marilyn Yalom
Publisher:   Abbeville Press Inc.,U.S.
Imprint:   Abbeville Press Inc.,U.S.
Weight:   3.657kg
ISBN:  

9780789211477

ISBN 10:   0789211475
Pages:   496
Publication Date:   07 November 2013
Audience:   General/trade ,  General ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents from The Libertine Foreword: Libertine Love by Marilyn Yalom Introduction by Michel Delon 1. Seducers and Seductresses Robert Challes, Illustrious French Women Alain-Rene Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas Pierre de Marivaux, The Life of Marianne Pierre de Marivaux, The Parvenu Peasant Claude de Crebillon, The Wayward Head and Heart Samuel Richardson, Clarissa Charles Pinot Duclos, Memoirs to Serve as a History of the Customs of the Eighteenth Century Claude de Crebillon, The Opportunities of a Night Lancelot Voisin de La Popeliniere, Tableaux of the Customs of the Day Retif de la Bretonne, Fanchette's Foot Claude Joseph Dorat, The Fatal Effects of Inconstancy Denis Diderot, Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons Anonymous, The French Messalina 2. Elsewhere Antoine Galland, The Thousand and One Nights Montesquieu, Persian Letters Claude de Crebillon, The Sofa Anne Gabriel Meusnier de Querlon, Psaphion, or the Courtesan of Smyrna Voltaire, Candide, or Optimism 3. Savoir-Vivre, or Playing The Game Anthony Hamilton, Memoirs of the Comte de Grammont Pierre de Marivaux, The Double Inconstancy Pierre de Marivaux, The Game of Love and Chance Montesquieu, The Temple of Gnidus Claude de Crebillon, The Sylph Charles Pinot Duclos, Confessions of the Comte de -- Jean Galli de Bibiens, The Doll Claude Godart d'Aucourt, Themidore Jean-Baptiste Guillard de Servigne, The Bells Jean-Francois de Bastide, The Little House 4. First Stirrings Anne Claude Philippe de Tubieres, Comte de Caylus, Trials of Love in The Four Elements Antoine Francois Prevost, Manon Lescaut Andre Francois Boureau-Deslandes, Pygmalion, or the Statue Brought to Life Jacques Rochette de La Morliere, Angola Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Julie, or the New Heloise Andrea de Nerciat, Felicia, or My Escapades Beaumarchais (Pierre Augustin Caron), The Marriage of Figaro Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Paul and Virginia Dominique Vivant Denon, No Tomorrow 5. Ideas Remond de Saint-Mard, New Dialogues of the Gods Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, The Natural History of Man Julien Offray de La Mettrie, The Art of Enjoyment Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education Denis Diderot, Encyclopedie Denis Diderot, Salon of 1767 Denis Diderot, D'Alembert's Dream Retif de La Bretonne, The Pornographer Louis Sebastien Mercier, Picture of Paris Nicolas Chamfort, Maxims and Thoughts The Marquis de Sade, Philosophy in the Bedroom Antoine Destutt de Tracy, One Love 6. Confidences Emilie de Chatelet, Letters to the Marquis de Saint-Lambert Julie de Lespinasse, Letters to the Comte de Guibert Mirabeau, Letter to Sophie de Monnier Beaumarchais, Letter to Madame de Godeville Denis Diderot, The Nun Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Confessions The Marquis de Sade, Letter to the Marquis de Sade The Chevalier de Boufflers, Letters to the Comtesse de Sabran Casanova, History of My Life Dominique Vivant Denon, Letter to Isabelle Teotochi 7. Songs of Love Charles Francois Pannard, The Glass Voltaire, The Worldling Gabriel Charles de Lattaignant, Maxims of Coquetry Gabriel Charles de Lattaignant, The Word and the Thing Paul Desforgues-Maillard, Tobacco Pierre Joseph Bernard, known as Gentil-Bernard, The Art of Loving Anonymous, Malbrook Is Off to War Beaumarchais, Cherubin's Romance, from The Marriage of Figaro Claude Joseph Dorat, The Kisses Alexandre Frederic Jacques Masson de Pezay, Zelis at Her Bath Nicolas Germain Leonard, The Storm Barthelemy Imbert, New Fables Philippe Fabre d'Eglantine, Hospitality Antoine de Bertin, The Loves Evariste Parny, Erotic Poems Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, The Pleasures of Love Andre Chenier, Bucolics 8. Secret Cabinet Alexis Piron, Ode to Priapus Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche, The Story of Brother Bugger Anne Gabriel Meusnier de Querlon, The Carmelite Keeper of the Keys Boyer d'Argens, Therese Philosophe Louis Charles Fougeret de Monbron, Margot the Mender Louis Charles Fougeret de Monbron, The Prostitute Mirabeau, My Conversation Pigault-Lebrun, The Brothel Child The Marquis de Sade, Juliette, or Vice Amply Rewarded Bibliography Index

Reviews

Highly recommended for sophisticated readers, art historians, and Francophiles. -- Library Journal The most seductive book published this year. A boudoir coffee-table book that will put your guests in the proper frame of mind. -- Playboy Prepare to be seduced by The Libertine , a swoon-worthy tome that celebrates the French practice of amour. A parade of frolicking lovers gorgeously reproduced. -- Newsday , holiday gift guide selection

Author Information

Michel Delon, professor of French literature at the Sorbonne, is the author of several studies of the eighteenth-century libertine. He has edited the works of Diderot and Sade for the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, as well as Routledge's Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. Marilyn Yalom is a former professor of French and presently a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. In 1991 she was decorated as an Officier des Palmes Academiques by the French Government. She is the author of widely acclaimed books such as Blood Sisters: The French Revolution in Women's Memory (1993), A History of the Breast (1997), A History of the Wife (1997), and How the French Invented Love: 900 Years of Passion and Romance (2012). She lives in Palo Alto, California, with her husband, the psychiatrist and author Irvin D. Yalom.

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