The Last Libertines

The Last Libertines, as Benedetta Craveri writes in her preface to the book, "tells the story of a group of young aristocrats living in the last days of the French monarchy, when it was still possible for the members of the elite to reconcile a way of life based on status and privilege with a belief, born of the Enlightenment, in the necessity for social transformation and the new ideals of justice, tolerance, and civility." Here we meet seven emblematic characters, whom Craveri has singled out not only for the "novelistic quality of their lives and loves" but also, perhaps above all, for the fully conscious way in which they confronted the crisis of the ancien regime while looking ahead to a new world being born. Displaying the aristocratic virtues of "pride, courage, fashionable elegance, culture, spiritedness, and conviviality," the duc de Lauzun, the comte de Segur, the vicomte de Segur, the duc de Brissac, the comte de Narbonnes, the comte de Vaudreuil, and the chevalier de Boufflers were not only masters of the art of seduction but true sons of the Enlightenment, all ambitious to play their part in bringing around the great changes that were in the air. When the French Revolution came, however, they were condemned to poverty, exile, and in some cases execution. Telling the parallel lives of these seven dazzling but little-remembered historical figures, Craveri brings to light a vanished civilization and dramatizes a time of turmoil that may be said to anticipate our own.An enthralling work of history about the Libertine generation that came up during-and was eventually destroyed by-the French Revolution.The Last Libertines, as Benedetta Craveri writes in her preface to the book, is the story of a group of "seven aristocrats whose youth coincided with the French monarchy's final moment of grace-a moment when it seemed to the nation's elite that a style of life based on privilege and the spirit of caste might acknowledge the widespread demand for change, and in doing so reconcile itself with Enlightenment ideals of justice, tolerance, and citizenship." Here we meet seven emblematic characters, whom Craveri has singled out not only for "the romantic character of their exploits and amours-but also by the keenness with which they experienced this crisis in the civilization of the ancien regime, of which they themselves were the emblem." Displaying the aristocratic virtues of "dignity, courage, refinement of manners, culture, and wit," the Duc de Lauzun, the Vicomte de Segur, the Duc de Brissac, the Comte de Narbonne, the Chevalier de Boufflers, the Comte de Segur, and the Comte de Vaudreuil were at the same time "irreducible individualists" and true "sons of the Enlightenment," all of them ambitious to play their part in bringing around the great changes that were in the air. When the French Revolution came, however, they found themselves condemned to poverty, exile, and in some cases execution. Telling the parallel lives of these seven dazzling but little-remembered historical figures, Craveri brings the past to life, powerfully dramatizing a turbulent time that was at once the last act of a now-vanished world and the first act of our own.

“"This is a composite picture, brilliantly written, of the young aristocrats who lived through the last days of the French monarchy, subscribed both to loyalty to the throne and Enlightenment ideals of equality, and sometimes survived the Terror to move into the Napoleonic period. Like us they had to go through these difficult transitions, in their case with elegance and extraordinary gaiety." --Edmund White "A beautiful subject of reflection on the end of a world too perfect in its essence to find the ways of its future." -- Culture-Tops”

“Fanning out far beyond the individual stories of her protagonists, Craveri describes in fascinating detail France’s war against the British in America, the high politics and alliances of the European courts and the fashion for all things English that swept through Paris in the 1780s... Craveri’s use of the archives and prodigious amount of printed material is extremely impressive...There is little she does not touch on and she has a gift for bringing scenes alive....With these seven characters, Craveri has painted a rich, scholarly, highly enjoyable portrait of an extraordinary moment in French history.”
—Caroline Moorehead, The Guardian

“. . . . The Last Libertines provides a warmer picture of Craveri’s flawed but engaging subjects. Among its great charms are the quality and quantity of its gossipy anecdotes and the colorful portraits of its many incidental characters, including Joseph de Sabran who, running out of cannonballs in a naval battle against the British, packed his last gun with his table silver and blasted away. Throughout, Craveri quotes from her subjects’ witty writings—evidence of extraordinarily agile and imaginative minds, and largely representative of their class. This, along with their battle-tested courage leads one to wonder the question never really addressed by Craveri: how could men like them have lost to men like Saint-Just?”  
—James F. Penrose, New Criterion

“The sheer energy of these seven aristocrats is astounding. . . . In the end, we can’t help admiring these extraordinary people . . . they adhere to an aristocratic code of honour es exacting as any religiously-inspired ethic — but much more stylish.” 
—Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph

“The Last Libertines is a composite picture, brilliantly written, of the young aristocrats who lived through the last days of the French monarchy, subscribed both to loyalty to the throne and to Enlightenment ideals of equality, and sometimes survived the Terror to move into the Napoleonic period. Like us they had to go through these difficult transitions, in their case with elegance and extraordinary gaiety.”
—Edmund White

“The Last Libertines is an elegant tale of intrigue—amorous and political. Through the lives of seven aristocrats, Benedetta Craveri convincingly explores the ideals of libertinism as a link between the ancient regime and the new world order that followed.”
—Cathleen Schine

“A beautiful subject of reflection on the end of a world too perfect in its essence to find the ways of its future.”
—Culture-Tops

Benedetta Craveri is currently a professor of French literature at the University Suor Orsola Benincasa, Naples. She is a corresponding member of Accademia dei Lincei and contributes to The New York Review of Books and to the cultural pages of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Her books include Madame du Deffand and Her World, Mistresses and Queens, and The Age of Conversation (available from New York Review Books). She is married to a French diplomat and in 2017 was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca by l'Institut de France.Aaron Kerner is a translator, editor, and teacher who lives in Boston.

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