Montesquieu and His Reader

This study views De L'Esprit des Lois from the perspective of recent literary criticism, which suggests that authors purposely seek to involve readers in their works and even encourage them to create new meanings by looking beyond the text for further applications of its thoughts. Following ideas expressed by literary response theorists who view a work in terms of the reader's participation, the book examines the techniques which Montesquieu used to appeal to his reader and to cause him to create a version of it which reflects an individual perception of Montesquieu's thought. The investigation roceeds from a portrait of the authorial voice in the opening chapter to a study of the physical structure of the text, subsequently analyzing techniques which involve the reader in the text and which ultimately move him to create the unwritten text. Contents: Portrait of the Authorial Voice; Text Structure and Montesquieu's Relationship With the Reader; Moving the Reader into Text; and Creating the Unwritten Text.