Did the Enlightenment cause the Atlantic Revolutions? To answer this question, we need to figure out what people read in the eighteenth century and how they read the works they either came into contact with or owned. In this course, we will study some of the important works of the pre-Revolutionary period, paying attention both to the ideas contained therein, and to the history of their production, dissemination and reception. We will also examine the lifestyles and biographies of some of the men and women writers who, in salons, academies, reading clubs, and Masonic lodges, made up the "republic of letters" in the eighteenth century. Although this course will focus on France, we will study the Enlightenment in its broader European and American setting. We will also study opera (The Magic Flute), music (Haydn's Creation), plays (The Marriage of Figaro and Nathan the Wise), and enlightened art (David). Figures to be studied include Diderot, Rousseau, Mercier, Beaumarchais, Olympe de Gouges, Lessing, Kant, Mendelssohn, Hume, and Wollstonecraft. Evaluation will be based on informed class participation, two long papers (8-10 pages), and a self-scheduled final exam. Groups B and D