Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xi, 246 pages; 24 cm

Summary

1. "The title refers to a premise in utopian and exoticist fiction about the southern portion of the globe: sexual order defines the character of the state. The book begins by examining how the idea of sexual order operated as the principle for explaining national differences in eighteenth-century contestation between Britain and France. It traces how, following British and French encounters with Tahiti, the comparison of different national sexual orders formed the basis for two theories of race: race as essential character and race as degeneration." "The book's first major argument is that the comparison and definition of national sexual identities underwrote Enlightenment globalization - the novel Western European feeling of knowing one's place in a connected world. Its second major argument is that colonial representations of the Orient and the Antipodes functioned as the proving ground for competing claims about national character in the ongoing contestation between the Enlightenment's internal others, Great Britain and France. It thus proposes that competing claims about the role of sex in British and French public life - claims tested in British and French colonial representations - established the conditions for placing modern Western European sexual identity."--Jacket.

Subject

1. 1700-1799
2. English literature > 18th century > History and criticism
3. Erotic literature, English > History and criticism
4. Sex in literature
5. French literature > 18th century > History and criticism
6. Travelers' writings, English > History and criticism
7. Travelers' writings, French > History and criticism
8. Erotic literature, French > History and criticism
9. Comparative literature > English and French
10. Comparative literature > French and English
11. Globalization > History > 18th century
12. Imperialism in literature
13. Sex customs in literature
14. Colonies in literature
15. Enlightenment
16. Enlightenment (18th-century western movement)
17. English literature
18. Erotic literature, English
19. Erotic literature, French
20. French literature
21. Globalization
22. Literature
23. Travelers' writings, English
24. Travelers' writings, French
25. Sexualverhalten
26. Literatur
27. Sexualität
28. Littérature érotique
29. 18e siècle
30. Siècle des lumières
31. Identité sexuelle
32. Sexualité
33. Thème littéraire
34. Littérature anglaise
35. Littérature française
36. Récit de voyage
37. Coutume sexuelle
38. Colonie
39. Impérialisme
40. Mondialisation
41. Geschichte 1700-1800
42. Oceania > In literature
43. Oceania
44. Ozeanien
45. Océanie
46. Englisch
47. Französisch

Genre/Form

1. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
2. History.

Contents

1. Metropolitan Allegories -- National Character, Publicity and Sex -- Public Women in the French Body Politic -- Public Life in Enlightenment Pornography -- Antipodes -- The Sexual Nature of South Sea Islands -- British Encounter: Recognizing Sensibility -- French Encounter: Crafting Transparency.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. [195]-236) and index.