Abstract
Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire historique et critique (1696) was notorious not only for its irreligious doctrines, but also for its ‘obscenities’. In the second edition Bayle added an ‘Éclaircissement’, in which he defended himself against accusations of lewdness while providing a historical, philosophical, and literary analysis of what it means to write obscenity. This article discusses Bayle's ‘obscenities’ in the various editions of the Dictionnaire, as well as his self-defence and theory of transgressive speech, and analyses his distinction between words, things, and ideas. It marks the obscenities as a progressive political move in the Republic of Letters of Bayle's day.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 714-741 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Modern Language Review |
| Volume | 113 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2018 |
Keywords
- Obscenity
- Poetry
- Words
- Stoicism
- Morality
- Euphemisms
- Censorship
- Sexual self-stimulation
- Apologetics
- Cynicism
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Dive into the research topics of 'Les mots et les choses: the obscenity of Pierre Bayle'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Profiles
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Mara van der Lugt
- Philosophy - Lecturer in Philosophy
- Global Research Centre in Changing Climates: Science, Society, Solutions
Person: Academic, Academic - Research
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