The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France

The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary FranceFrench 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.

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.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 04/17/1996
ISBN: 9780393314427
Pages: 464
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 1.20d
Award: National Book Critics Circle Award - Winner

Review Citations: New York Times 08/18/1996 pg. 32
New York Times 12/08/1996 pg. 100
Publishers Weekly 03/18/1996