Module description
What is reason? How does it relate to modern ideas of freedom, including the pursuit of pleasure? Does either freedom or reason lead to happiness? This module explores these questions by considering key literary texts of the French eighteenth century. The aim is to problematize key aspects of Enlightenment thought either by re-contextualizing well-known texts (eg. Voltaire’s Candide) or considering texts that are marginal or eccentric to the Enlightenment’s main preoccupations (eg. Sade or Charrière). Along the way we will also consider what this literature tells us about the origins of modern identity as well as its limits and exclusions, for instance in relation to madness, sickness, women’s experiences and bodily desire. Students will also be expected to acquaint themselves with the major philosophical and historical issues around the problematization of the notion of 'Enlightenment' (reference, for instance, to Condorcet, Kant, Adorno and Foucault), and to read other texts of the period beside the set-texts.
Assessment details
One 4000 word essay (100%)
Teaching pattern
Two classes per week
Suggested reading list
Unless otherwise stated, students are expected to buy their own copy of all core texts.
- Charrière, Lettres de Mistress Henley
- Diderot, Le Neveu de Rameau
- Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses
- Rousseau, Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire
- Sade, Justine, ou les malheurs de la vertu
- Voltaire, Candide
Any decent edition will do (e.g. Folio, Garnier-Flammarion), preferably one which has a good introduction, and which offers other texts by the same author. Suggested editions of the 'Lettres de Mistress Henley' include MLA Texts and Translations or Madame de Charrière, Lettres de Lausanne et autres récits épistolaires (Edition: Rivages Pche/Petite Bibliothèque).
In the case of Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot, you should be aware, for the purposes of consulting them, of the important ‘œuvres complètes’, published, respectively by the Voltaire Foundation, Gallimard (Pléïade) and Hermann. Although not all are complete, the editions are authoritative.
Recommended English Translations of core texts
- Charrière, Letters of Mistress Henley Published by her Friend, translated Phillip Stewart and Jean Vaché (MLA Press, 1993)
- Diderot, Rameau's Nephew (any recent edition). See also Denis Diderot's Rameau's Nephew, A Multi-Media Edition with audio files, translated K.E. Tunstall and C. Warman, music Pascal Duc and the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (Open Book Publishers: 2014)
- Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons (any recent edition).
- Rousseau, Reveries of a Solitary Walker, translated Russell Goulbourne (Oxford World's Classics: 2011)
- Sade, Justine or the Misfortunes of Virtue, translated John Phillips (Oxford World's Classics: 2012 [1977]).
- Voltaire, Candide or Optimism (any recent edition).