Séduction codifiée-séduction imprévue

Abstract

This paper intends to analyze Duclos, Les Confessions du comte de ***, to which XVIIIth century French narrative is the backdrop which gives much needed background information. Two different modes of seduction are counterbalanced: one belonging to social play, which envisages seduction as part of a ritualised social activity, that is to say, an accorded seduction. Another in which the subject is overwhelmed by the unexpected seduction regularly requires foreign lovers; Spanish, Italian or even English. The differences between these two types of seduction account for a difference which also occurs in the nature of human beings, a difference which can be explained in terms of ontological or discursive variation.