Literature and society: focusing on Voltaire and Rousseau as case studies

Abstract

In studies in the fields of intellectual history and philosophy, literature can be an invaluable source to explore, and this applies well to Enlightenment's thought. The careful analysis of literary works produced by Voltaire and Rousseau – the key authors for this text – allows us to understand their connections with French society in the 18th century, taking into account how they entered the literary field. When they wrote, they aimed at certain objectives that they intended to achieve through their works, certain impressions that they wanted to provoke in their respective readership. The style they used, the themes they chose, the genres they adopted, all of this reflects the plans they made so that the product of their pens would be able to reach and influence the reason and sensibility of their readers. Rousseau and Voltaire, each in their own time, became prominent citizens of the Republic of Letters to reform its constitution and leave an indelible mark on literature. The tale and the novel would never be the same after they had operated a happy union between philosophical reflection and literary art, as these philosophes wanted their texts to open the public's eyes to the great social, political and moral issues permeating their lives. In this paper, we will investigate the strategies they embraced to achieve this aim, which will also allow us to carry out an interpretative exercise on the relations between literary-philosophical writing and its social context, focusing on Voltaire and Rousseau as case studies.