Abstract

The Lettres persanes are many-faceted, without (any one central unifying theme. In his short selective, and he rather underplays the question of so many critics, simply following those who fictional side of the work. The overall view of life both East and West is seen to be pessimistic, though there is little description of the somewhat austere lifestyle of the harem, and possible political parallels between Usbek and Louis XIV are not highlighted. That is not to say that there is no attempt to stress unifying principles, especially social ones. Though there is no discussion of civic virtue as such, the main theme running throughout is that of social utility, seen to govern even the use of allegory and satire, except when it comes to the subject of women. The text is well situated, with the reader being made aware of what dates from 754 rather than 1721. Betts also underscores the changes both in manner and in subject-matter in letters dealing with the Regency rather than the end of the reign of Louis XIV. -- From https://www.jstor.org (Dec. 27, 2017).