Sopha, tells moral

Sopha, tells moral is a French tale of Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon says “Crébillon wire”, published in 1742.

Argument

The tale lies within an evocative Eastern scope of the Thousand and One Nights . The narrator, Amanzéï, are transformed into sopha and will only find its human form “when two people would be given mutually and on their first steps”. For the sultan Shah-Baham, who are bored, and of the sultana, he tells the scenes of which he was the witness while making ravel seven couples successively. The last, formed of two teenagers (Zéïnis and Phéléas) whose young hearts enjoy the pleasure innocently that they give each other, meets the condition allowing to release Amanzéï.

The various episodes - of which longest (9 chapters) is that of Zulica - are as many occasions to ridicule hypocrisy in its various forms (fashionable respectability, virtue, devotion).

History

After the publication of this novel, the author is exiled with 30 miles of Paris the April 7th 1742 because of the cynicism of the work and of his libertinage, but especially because some believe to recognize Louis XV in the character ridiculous and amusing of the sultan Shah-Baham. Crébillon manages to return in the capital the July 22nd by putting forward for its defense that the work would have been ordered by Frederic II of Prussia and would have been published only following one indiscretion and against its will.

External bond

Full text on the basis Gallica

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