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Enlightened Pleasures: Eighteenth-Century France and the New Epicureanism
Contributor(s): Kavanagh, Thomas M. (Author)
ISBN: 0300140940     ISBN-13: 9780300140941
Publisher: Yale University Press
OUR PRICE:   $83.16  
Product Type: Hardcover
Published: March 2010
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe - France
- Literary Criticism | European - French
- Philosophy | History & Surveys - General
Dewey: 944.034
LCCN: 2009027231
Series: Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History (Hardcover)
Physical Information: 1" H x 6.2" W x 9.3" (1.15 lbs) 264 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 18th Century
- Cultural Region - French
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Novelists, artists, and philosophers of the eighteenth century understood pleasure as a virtue--a gift to be shared with one's companion, with a reader, or with the public. In this daring new book, Thomas Kavanagh overturns the prevailing scholarly tradition that views eighteenth-century France primarily as the incubator of the Revolution. Instead, Kavanagh demonstrates how the art and literature of the era put the experience of pleasure at the center of the cultural agenda, leading to advances in both ethics and aesthetics.

Kavanagh shows that pleasure is not necessarily hedonistic or opposed to Enlightenment ideals in general; rather, he argues that the pleasure of individuals is necessary for the welfare of their community.