17th-century French libertinism

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Adam Horsley (University of Exeter)

Ed. by Allison Stedman, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.03: French Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century: Classical and Baroque, 1600-1700.
Vol. editors: Heather Kirk (University of Western Ontario), Kathrina LaPorta (New York University), Polly Mangerson (DePaul University), Julia Prest (University of St Andrews), Allison Stedman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1600- c.1700

Places

France (Location)

The study of seventeenth-century French libertinism remained a neglected area of scholarship for many years. Nineteenth and early twentieth-century researchers were on the whole shocked to rediscover writers whose language, lifestyle, sexuality and religious heterodoxy appeared to shatter the image of purity, refinement and eloquence that had come to represent the classical period known as le grand siècle. Carefully crafted as early as the reign of Louis XIV, this image of refined manners and Catholic orthodoxy is now recognised as one of a number of aspects of the literature, thought and manners of seventeenth-century France. Another such aspect, libertinism, is best understood as a degree of scepticism towards the dominant and …

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4058 words

Citation: Horsley, Adam. "17th-century French libertinism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 April 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19451, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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17th-century French libertinism

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