author
Charles-Étienne
A French-language man of letters at the court of Frederick the Great, he is best remembered for turning travel, criticism, and literary culture into lively prose. His work offers a window into the intellectual world of early eighteenth-century Europe.
1 Audiobook
Sous le fouet : mœurs d'Outre-Rhin
by Charles-Étienne
About the author
Born in Berlin in 1700, Charles-Étienne Jordan was descended from Huguenot refugees and built his career in the French-speaking literary culture of his time. He became known as a writer on literature and history and later served as an adviser to Frederick the Great.
He is especially remembered for Histoire d'un voyage littéraire (1735), a book drawn from his travels in France, England, and the Netherlands. That work helped preserve a vivid picture of the writers, ideas, and conversations shaping European intellectual life in the eighteenth century.
Jordan died in 1745, but his writing still appeals to readers interested in the Republic of Letters, cultural history, and the ways travel could become a record of books, people, and ideas.