Persian Letters - Montesquieu, Baron | 9780140442816 | Amazon.com.au | Books

Persian Letters - Montesquieu, Baron | 9780140442816 | Amazon.com.au | Books
World Literature









Persian Letters
by Baron Montesquieu (Author) Format: Paperback
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (45)


A richly evocative novel of the meeting between East and West

This richly evocative novel-in-letters tells the story of two Persian noblemen who have left their country - the modern Iran - to journey to Europe in search of wisdom. As they travel, they write home to wives and eunuchs in the harem and to friends in France and elsewhere. Their colourful observations on the culture differences between West and East culture conjure up Eastern sensuality, repression and cruelty in contrast to the freer, more civilized West - but here also unworthy nobles and bishops, frivolous women of fashion and conceited people of all kinds are satirized. Storytellers as well as letter-writers, Montesquieu's Usbek and Rica are disrespectful and witty, but also serious moralists. Persian Letters was a succ s de scandale in Paris society, and encapsulates the libertarian, critical spirit of the early eighteenth century.

Product description

About the Author
Charles-Louis de Scondat (1689 - 1755) was born into an eminent family of parliamentaires. He inherited the barony of Monesquieu in 1715 and published the Persian Letters anonymously five years later.


Christopher Betts is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of French STudies at the University of Warwick. He has written books and articles on eighteenth-century French fiction and thought and has translated Rousseau's Social Contract


Publication date ‏ : ‎ 27 May 2004


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Ghassem-Fachandi Parvis
5 out of 5 stars
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on 19 January 2018
Format: Paperback
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Thank You!

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Karina Horitz
5 out of 5 stars
perfect condition,
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 March 2017
Format: Paperback
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many thanks, perfect condition,

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RiRed
4 out of 5 stars
It was like described.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2017
Format: Paperback
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Arrived on time. It was like described.

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betterthansheetz
4 out of 5 stars
Try this before delving further into Montesquieu's works!
Reviewed in the United States on 14 February 2017
Format: Paperback
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I was required to read selections from this book for a course covering the Enlightenment in Europe. After the required reading, I ended up finishing the entire novel to fill in the blanks as to what had occurred. The Author's biting wit is much appreciated, and the novel is an interesting read to say the least. The ending will certainly leave the reader scratching their head, but overall good book! I definitely recommend giving this book a try before you attempt any of Montesquieu's other works!

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Aran Joseph Canes
2 out of 5 stars
Part Jacobin Part Jansenist
Reviewed in the United States on 26 February 2023
Format: Paperback
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Most commentators read Montesquieu’s Persian Letters looking forward: that is, its effects on the fall of the ancien regime and the coming revolution. But it’s also possible to look back and see it in continuity with a work like Pascal’s Provincial Letters. Both men hailed from the Jansenist branch of Gallic Christianity. Both focused, almost obsessively, on the need for reason in human affairs; they were, however, to come to radically different conclusions about the right way to live.



Montesquieu, fitting representative of the Enlightenment, saw reason as the final arbiter of all. Some of his reasonings do reach premature conclusions: dirt and uncleanliness are merely emotional reactions with no correlation with health, siblings should be encouraged to marry, etc., etc.



Both mocked the popular religious practices of their day; both wanted a religion in conformity with the newly discovered power of reason; yet Pascal was to write in his Pensees that it is irrational to be irreligious; Montesquieu came to the conclusion exactly opposite.



I believe scholars do not see the extent of the influence of the Provincial Letters on the Persian Letters due to the fact that Pascal’s satires against the Jesuits seem remote from modern concerns. But it’s wise to remember that Montesquieu didn’t know there would be a French Revolution but did know of Pascal’s popular work on the Jansenist controversy. I’d argue that the proper context is less a revolution sixty years away and more a work published sixty years before.



For me, the Persian Letters are only worth reading to understand the intellectual milieu among French elites after the death of the Sun King. They contain little of perennial philosophic interest. Recommended to those interested in Western intellectual history.

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