18th Century French Literature Quiz

Answer: The French Revolution-1789

The term "eighteenth century French Literature" within the Age of Enlightenment, can be used to describe the period between the death of Louis XIV in 1715 and the French Revolution in 1789. Some consider it to extend to the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

Answer: Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a french philosopher and writer. He was the chief editor of the "L'Encyclopédie", one of the most important literary works of the Age of Enlightenment. He spent 26 years of his life on this work. With 17 volumes of text and 11 of illustrations, the Encyclopaedia presented a summary of human learning in one work. It challenged all aspects of French authority including that of the Roman Catholic Church.

Answer: Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire wrote the satirical short novel "Candide" in 1759. It is one of his most famous works.

Answer: That he was blind

Diderot´s philosophical writings include his "Pensées philosophiques" ("Philosophical Thoughts") (1746) and "Lettre sur les aveugles" ("Letter on the Blind") (1749). Saunderson´s blindness is used to define the image of light for eighteenth century thinkers as a metaphor for knowledge.

Answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78). A philosopher and political theorist and a member of Diderot's circle, he was one of the great figures of the French enlightenment and re-wrote the laws for educating children of both sexes. He was one of the most significant thinkers to shape post French Revolution thinking.

Answer: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

"Les Liaisons dangereuses" ("Dangerous Liaisons") is a famous French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782. It depicts the decadence of the French aristocracy shortly before the French Revolution. It thereby exposes the perversions of the "Ancien Régime".

Answer: two Persian brothers traveling through France

This 1721 story is about two Persian brothers, Usbek and Rica, who travel through France. Told in epistolary form, it consists of 161 letters dated over a span of nine years from 1711 to 1720. It indicated the barbaric absurdities of contemporary French life and was part of the growing movement towards Enlightenment thinking.

Answer: a play

"Le Barbier de Séville" was a French play written by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais in 1775. "The Barber of Seville" was Beaumarchais' first comedy and his first stage success. The play was a great success. Its exploitation of traditional realistic characters, like Figaro, forged a link with audiences and permitted a critical look at contemporary French society. Figaro was so popular that Beaumarchais brought him back in a later work; "The Marriage of Figaro".

Answer: "The Adventures of Telemachus" by François Fenelon

"The Adventures of Telemachus, Son of Ulysses" was a novel by Francois Fénelon and first published in 1699. The story is a scathing attack on the French monarchy.

Answer: Philosophical Dictionary

Voltaire used this dictionary to set out his ideas. There is much criticism of the Catholic Church.