Reimagining Society in Eighteenth-Century French Literature: Happiness and Human Rights by Jonas Ross Kjærgård (review)

Opening this impressive study with a bold discussion, Jonas Ross Kjærgård considers Louis XVI's address to the Assemblée nationale on 23 June 1789. In this speech, Kjærgård contends, Louis XVI champions a form of absolutism and happiness that stood in opposition to the 'establishment of happiness of all' (p. 3) as advocated by the Assemblée nationale and the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (1789). Following the adoption of the Déclaration, happiness, coupled with authorial influences on debates concerning the future of France, 'assumed some poignancy' (p. 8). The poignancy of happiness, challenges to traditional power structures, and the changing roles of authors and their fiction are the central focuses of this study. In Chapter 1, in a close analysis of the Déclaration, Kjærgård examines three dilemmas that preoccupied deputies of the Assemblée nationale: nature and society; rights and duties; and exclusions from the political body. His discussion highlights the duality of contradiction and sacredness as expressed in terms of openness and authority, and how this became 'a crucial reason for the pull towards politics felt by the period's authors of fiction' (p. 25), to great effect. In Chapter 2, Kjærgård juxtaposes historical and contemporary depictions of society by analysing works that offer imaginative visions of social alterity. Chapter 3 offers an enlightening reading of Louis-Sébastien Mercier's L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fût jamais (1771). Focusing on the portrayal of an ideal society, Kjærgård examines the different ways in which L'An 2440 scrutinizes the philosophy of Condorcet, as well as the political perspectives of Rousseau and Montesquieu. Equally, Kjærgård suggests that Mercier's text presents a plural view of happiness by metaphorically asking its readers to 'become a part of this happy society and the values it celebrates' (p. 15). In Chapter 4, Kjærgård's discussions are focused on Choderlos de Laclos's Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782). Kjærgård illustrates with ease that Laclos, in his depiction of arranged marriages, the use of seduction as a weapon, and the decadence of the French aristocracy, does 'not really invite the reader to sympathize or live with the various letter writers' (p. 153), but we are instead invited to overlook the ethically troubling issues in the novel. Most striking is Kjærgård's suggestion that unlike Mercier, Laclos offers no sustained vision of perfection or happiness. Turning his attention to Marie-Joseph Chénier's Fénelon ou les religieuses de Cambrai (1793), Kjærgård shows in Chapter 5 how Chénier's happy community adopts a selective mentality, and that Chénier attempts to place the audience in the position of initiated members of the play's fictional community and expects their acceptance of the 'dichotomous depiction of virtue and corruption' (p. 166). Kjærgård stresses that in this respect the play delimits the human in favour of society, but equally that happiness is both a personal and societal concern. Excusing the somewhat high level of academic jargon and the density of the material, this study has a great deal to offer students and scholars with an interest in French culture, history, and literature, and is a worthwhile read.