Thesis--Aachen, 1974. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-215).

Th.--Lett.--Paris, 1972.

Thèse--Paris. / Bibliography: p. 205-[213]

Thesis--Columbia University. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 234-246.

Jean-Baptiste Boyer d'Argens, a dissident and libertine writer, has played an important role by spreading Enlightenment ideas to Frederic II of Prussia. He began to write in the 1730s, a particularly productive and innovative period. His work is a testimony of the profound transformation of the novel toward the modern approach. By blending different formal genres (novel and memoirs), he made use of an hybrid genre in which moral truth is greater than historical accuracy. His entire repertoire converges toward a principal theme, the emancipation of man. This notion of freedom not only implies to the freedom of thought, conduct and writing form, it is the foundation of Boyer d'Argens' life and poetics. This author, not too conservative, not too eccentric, is a good representation of the common trend of thinking of the Enlightenment.

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