The Art Of The Persian Letters
Unlocking Montesquieu's 'Secret Chain'
Randolph Paul Runyon(Author)
University of Delaware Press
Published on 1. September 2005
Book
Hardback
289 pages
978-1-61149-276-7 (ISBN)
Description
Some thirty years after the initial publication of Montesquieu's Persian Letters in 1721, the author hinted at the presence of 'a secret, and somehow unnoticed, chain' tying together this entertaining, insightful, yet disparate collection of fictional letters to and from two Persian travelers in France. Ever since Montesquieu's subtle hint, readers have tried to identify the chain, but the riddle has resisted solution. The reason may be that no one has actually looked for a hidden chain-composed of separate links-but instead for a unifying theme. In The Art of the Persian Letters Randolph Runyon takes the chain metaphor seriously, showing that the chain is not thematic but linguistic and structural, as each letter is linked to its neighbors on either side by echoing words and situations despite their different contexts. Montesquieu's epistolary novel emerges as a delightfully self-referential work of art, full of hidden allusions to their persistently doubling structure.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
601 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61149-276-7 (9781611492767)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Randolph Paul Runyon is professor of French at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.