4 h 42 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a conversation about desire crosses the boundaries of what society allows people to say?
The School of Girls belongs to the bold world of seventeenth-century French libertine writing. Linked to Michel Millot, this erotic prose work brings the body and desire into open conversation. Its dialogue form turns speech into a kind of teaching, giving voice to subjects that polite society keeps quiet.
Around this frank exchange stands a world of strict public order. The Catholic Church holds moral power, while the crown watches the press. Erotic books face suppression, and printers and sellers risk prosecution. Against that background, the work invites you to consider not just what people say about desire, but who has the power to silence them.
What you’ll discover
- Lessons through conversation Explore a dialogue form where one speaker guides another, and talk becomes the means of teaching.
- Desire spoken aloud Encounter frank sexual subject matter that challenges the silence of polite society.
- A closely watched world Consider the pressures surrounding erotic writing when church and crown seek control over print.
- An unsettled author's name Approach a work linked to Michel Millot, whose attribution remains uncertain rather than firmly established.
- The limits of permission Reflect on the long argument over censorship through writing that brings forbidden subjects into speech.
Who will love it
Readers drawn to banned books and the history of censorship, students of seventeenth-century French culture, and anyone curious how a satirical dialogue borrows the language of philosophy to argue about honor, reputation and desire.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A worldly cousin visits a sheltered girl
- Susanne teaches that honor is only opinion
- The lover's lessons and the art of preparation
- Fanchon reports back and learns to be careful
- A philosophy of love built on bodily desire
- How the book is built and why it was feared
Who’s who
- SusanneA worldly young woman who loves to teach and talk. She sets out to open her cousin's eyes about love and honor.
- FanchonA sixteen-year-old raised under her mother's wing. She is curious, quick with questions and willing to learn from her cousin.
- RobinetA handsome merchant's son who has left his father's trade. He loves Fanchon and asks Susanne's help in winning her.
- Fanchon's motherA respectable middle-class woman who keeps her daughter close and thinks her too young to marry. She is mostly out of sight.
- Susanne's loverA discreet man whom Susanne describes at length. In company he is respectful, and in private he is inventive.
- PerretteA woman who speaks in the closing verse dialogue, where she argues her views with lively comparisons.
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- Audiobook
- 4 h 42 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear L’École des filles in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
L’École des filles
by Michel Millot · 1655
Susanne, a worldly cousin, schools sixteen-year-old Fanchon in love while her mother is out.
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In short
The School of Girls is a French dialogue from the seventeenth century, credited to Michel Millot. The text says it first appeared in Paris in 1665.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A worldly cousin visits a sheltered girl
The story is set in Paris in the reign of Louis XIII. A young man named Robinet, the son of a merchant who has left his father's trade, loves Fanchon, a beautiful girl of sixteen. She has always been kept under her mother's wing and knows almost nothing of the world. Robinet can visit the house freely, but her innocence defeats him. Her mother is a respectable middle-class woman who thinks her daughter is too young to marry.
So Robinet turns to Susanne, a neighbor and a cousin of Fanchon. Susanne is a little less beautiful than her cousin, but she is far more experienced and clever. Robinet wins her over with gifts, and she agrees to put the idea of love into Fanchon's head.
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What is The School of Girls about?
It is a two-part dialogue between Susanne and her younger cousin Fanchon. Susanne instructs Fanchon in love and then they discuss desire, honor, secrecy and marriage. The talk is frank and often comic, and it argues against the rules of respectability.
Who wrote The School of Girls and when?
It is credited to Michel Millot, and the text says it first appeared in Paris in 1665. The authorities burned the copies and hanged the author in effigy. Dutch printings carried the book on, and it is among the earliest openly obscene books in French.
Who are Susanne, Fanchon and Robinet?
Susanne is a worldly young woman who plays the teacher. Fanchon is her sheltered sixteen-year-old cousin who plays the pupil. Robinet is a merchant's son who loves Fanchon and asks Susanne to help him win her.
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