Topics in Enlightenment History

When we think about eighteenth-century France, two words come to mind: Libertinage and Liberty. Both words have the same root and and both are associated with the Enlightenment. A closer look, however, disrupts their apparent affinity. Liberty is a modern political category whereas Libertinage is an archaic one associated with skepticism and immorality. The triumph of liberty in the French Revolution of 1789 signalled the end of the world in which libertinage had flourished. Democratic societies since the late eighteenth century have purged themselves of any traces of libertinage. This seminar explores the affinity of these two terms within the context of the Enlightenment and the tensions that drove them apart. \ud \ud This topic demands an interdicisplinary approach that engages history and literature because libertinage is entwined with the spread of print technolgies and literacy, the changing status of religion and science, the history of medicine and sexuality, new literary genres such as epistolary novels, travel journals, autobiography, fairytales, definitions of decency and obscenity, and the emergence of the individual as a locus of rights and desires. Our analysis of libertinage illuminates debates that shaped modern assumptions about gender and eroticism, censorship and repression, pleasure and morality, government and authority. \ud \ud This course is designed as a seminar with the emphasis on collective reading and conversation between instructor and students. The readings introduce students to a corpus of libertine texts and historical contexts for interpreting them. The topics and readings I have selected for class discussion are set out in the syllabus below. Topics for final research papers can draw on this syllabus or go beyond it depending on student interest and language facility. History majors are encouraged to use the research paper to explore a possible topic for thesis work in their senior yea