Enlightened pleasures

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."--Publisher's description.

subjects: Greek influences,  French literature,  Intellectual life,  History and criticism,  Epicureans (Greek philosophy),  Civilization,  French Philosophy,  Pleasure,  Französisch,  Epikureismus,  Literatur,  Aufklärung,  Motiv,  Genuss,  Upplysningen,  Philosophy, french,  France, civilization,  French literature, history and criticism, 18th century,  France, intellectual life

Places: France

Times: 18th century