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Published on The Shadow of the Enlightenment (http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow)

Dave Raileanu

Because the nobility concerned itself with gaining the audience of the king and the king concerned himself with denying audience to whomever he pleased, and the bourgeois concerned themselves with becoming noble and the peasantry concerned itself with staying alive for as long as possible, writers in 18th century France were the only ones who had any new ideas whatsoever. Writers made it not only their right but also their reseponsibility to comment on the nature and process of the world, specifically addressing the inconsistancies and contradictions found in France. True, clergymen were published treatises and sermons during this time, but it was truly the faut of the writers that so many new ideas became available. This literary boon was due to a complicated casuality, but caused its own reprocussions, namely the French Revolution. In short, without the presence of writers, ideas wouldn't have gone anywhere in the 1700s.

‹ Aaron Goodwin: Without the known French authors to act as catalysts, would there have been a Revolution? [0]Michelle Klenn › [0]

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