Francois Racine de Monville (1734-1797), a virtuoso musician,
sportsman, architect and epicurean, was a quintessential
representative of the French Enlightenment, a luminary among a
constellation of luminaries. Unlike many of his contemporaries,
however, Monsieur de Monville fell into oblivion.
The author has conducted extensive research to paint a portrait
of Monville and place him in the context of the political, social
and artistic movements at the end of the 18th century.
The pages of this book are populated with Monville's friends and
acquaintances. The reader will discover princes and paupers,
playwrights and prostitutes, philosophers and pirates, ambassadors
and actresses, feminists and Freemasons. The author also focuses on
the Americans living in Paris at the end of the 18th
century-including four future presidents of the United States-who
traveled in the circles Monville frequented.
Many celebrities were Monville's guests at his sumptuous Paris
townhouse or at his country estate, the Desert de Retz, at
Chambourcy, with its unique Column House, considered "the most
interesting building of the eighteenth century."
The text is enhanced with three engravings of the Desert de Retz
by Constant Bourgeois dating from 1808. A hitherto unpublished poem
by Beaumarchais dedicated to Monville is included in an
appendix.
This new edition incorporates additional anecdotes from the life
of Monville, recounted by his contemporaries and unpublished for
over a century. The index has been expanded to twelve pages and the
bibliography now contains over three score references.
Praise for the first edition of "Monville: Forgotten Luminary of
the French Enlightenment"
A reader in the United States: "The ironic last sentence was
perfect. One thing for sure is that I'm even more determined to
visit the Desert because of the book. What an incredibly
interesting man and what a life."
Readers in France: "Je voulais vous dire toute mon admiration pour
le travail fabuleux que vous avez effectue ainsi que pour la
qualite de cette uvre que je parcours avec le plus grand
interet."
"Votre livre est petri de tendresse pour la France."
A reader in the United Kingdom: "You are giving me lots of
micro-biographies of people I'd never heard of and therefore ought
not to be interested in; logically I should be bored stiff, but in
fact not at all. Don't know how you do it but the damn thing is
highly readable "
A reader in Mexico: "I finished your wonderful book yesterday and
I am truly delighted. I really adored it It was like a trip in Time
and Space. I could imagine myself in those places with the people
you talk about."
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