Persian Letters
Baron Montesquieu author Christopher Betts translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Published:25th Jan '73
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
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 succès de scandale in Paris society, and encapsulates the libertarian, critical spirit of the early eighteenth century.
ISBN: 9780140442816
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 20mm
Weight: 258g
352 pages