Thérèse the Philosopher
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Thérèse Philosophe is a 1748 French novel ascribed to Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens.
Thérèse philosophe was devoted to recounting the relationship between highly-publicized trial involving Cathérine Cadière and Jean-Baptiste Girard. This novel was written and published in France, during the Age of Enlightenment. It has been chiefly regarded as a pornographic novel, which accounts for its massive sales in 18th-century France (as pornographic works were the most popular bestsellers of the time, see Darnton). Aside from that however, this novel represents a public conveyance (and arguably perversion) for some ideas of the Philosophes.
Philosophical and Social Concepts
For all of its printed debauchery, the work has some philosophical merit in its underlying concepts. Between the more graphically adult sections of the novel, philosophical issues would be discussed amongst the characters.
The book not only draws attention to the sexual repression of women at the time of the enlightenment, but also to the exploitation of religious authority through salacious acts.
English translations
The first translation of this work was as The Philosophical Theresa was published by George Cannon or J. B. Brookes, [c.1830]. It was later published by William Dugdale as Society of Vice (c.1860) in 2 volumes with 16 lithographs and again by Charles Carrington in 1900.
(Mendes: 133)
