Seducing the Eighteenth-Century French Reader

Considering canonical and lesser-known works by authors that include Rousseau, Sade, Bastide, Laclos, Crébillon fils, and the writers of two widely read libertine novels, Paul Young suggests that narratives of seduction function as a master plot for eighteenth-century French literature. How authors reacted to a cultural discourse that coded literature and solitary reading as dangerous, seductive practices sheds light on the history of authorship, especially the development of the novel.