Virtue and invisibility: libertine variations on the myth of Gyges

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

In libertine fiction, lovers make the most of the invisibility provided by night-time. Echoing the Platonic myth of Gyges, these nocturnal scenes ask whether virtue demands only conformity to social expectations. Is virtue therefore to be found less in self-repression than in dissimulation, less in chastity than in decency?
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEnlightenment Virtue, 1680-1794
EditorsJames Fowler, Marine Ganofsky
Place of PublicationLiverpool
PublisherLiverpool University Press
Pages169-186
Number of pages18
ISBN (Print)9781789620412
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Publication series

NameOxford University Studies in the Enlightenment
Number03
Volume2020
ISSN (Print)0435-2866

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