La femme au dix-huitième siècle

A sweeping portrait of French women at the height of the Enlightenment, this volume lifts the veil on a century too often reduced to caricature. Drawing on letters, legal dossiers, paintings, pamphlets and countless other fragments, the authors reconstruct the everyday rhythms, ambitions and constraints that shaped female existence in the 1700s.

From the moment of birth, through childhood rites, education and the inevitable march toward marriage, the narrative follows how social expectations and personal desires intertwined. It examines the customs of the salon, the economics of dowries, and the subtle power women wielded behind the domestic doors, all while revealing the psychological undercurrents that guided their choices.

Presented as the first part of a broader study, the book promises further exploration of men, the state and the city of Paris, offering listeners a richly detailed, human‑scaled view of a world that still echoes in today’s cultural fabric.