Description
Book SynopsisIn contrast to traditional Enlightenment studies that focus solely on authors and ideas, Gary Kates' employs a literary lens to offer a wholly original history of the period in Europe from 1699 to 1780. Each chapter is a biography of a book which tells the story of the text from its inception through to the revolutionary era, with wider aspects of the Enlightenment era being revealed through the narrative of the book's publication and reception. Here, Kates joins new approaches to book history with more traditional intellectual history by treating authors, publishers, and readers in a balanced fashion throughout. Using a unique database of 18th-century editions representing 5,000 titles, the book looks at the multifaceted significance of bestsellers from the time. It analyses key works by Voltaire, Adam Smith, Madame de Graffigny, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume and champions the importance of a crucial innovation of the age: the rise of the erudite blockbuster', which for the f
Trade ReviewScholars will have much to learn from this book; more importantly, it now represents the best introduction to the Enlightenment, and (quietly) provides an effective refutation of the widespread postmodern belief that the Enlightenment stands for imperialism, patriarchy and cold-blooded, scientific rationalism. And it is already available as a reasonably priced paperback, the modern equivalent of a cheap duodecimo. * The Critic *
Revealing the social, cultural and political impact of 12 bestselling titles of the 18th century, this imaginative and engaging study offers a fresh take on the Enlightenment which will be much admired. -- Colin Jones, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Based on impressive new research, Kates places books, the printing industry, and the public at the center of a vibrant interpretation of this important cultural movement. We see a dynamic Enlightenment emerge over the course of the century in which even books we thought we knew look different through the eyes of those who read and helped shape them into texts which resonate today. -- Dena Goodman, Professor Emerita of History and Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan, USA
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface 1. The Enlightenment Reading Public 2. Fénelon’s
Adventures of Telemachus (1699) 3. Montesquieu’s
Persian Letters (1721) 4. Voltaire’s History of Charles XII (1731) & Montesquieu’s
Considerations on the Greatness and Decline of the Romans (1734) 5. Voltaire’s
Philosophical Letters (1733-1734) 6. Richardson’s
Pamela (1740) 7. Hume’s
Essays Moral, Political, and Literary (1741-1742) 8. Graffigny’s
Letters from a Peruvian Woman (1747) 9. Montesquieu’s
Spirit of the Laws (1748) 10. Rousseau’s
Emile (1762) 11. Smith’s
Wealth of Nations (1776) 12. Raynal’s
Philosophical and Political History of the Two Indies (1770-1780) Index
