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.

この本で学べること

• 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.

どのような方におすすめですか？

You will enjoy this if you like the history of banned books, the French seventeenth century, or old writers who dressed bold ideas as a lesson and a joke.