Thomas Wynn explores how plays were read in eighteenth-century France and, relatedly, the mode of closet drama: plays that were never performed within the playhouse. Drawing on queer theory, Wynn argues that eighteenth-century closet reading fostered disruptive pleasures that imparted another side to the period's 'théâtromanie'.

Thomas Wynn is Professor of French at Durham University. He gained his DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2004 and was lecturer in French at the University of Exeter from 2005 until 2010. He specializes in eighteenth-century French literature, with a particular focus on Voltaire, Sade, theatre, and libertine writings.

• Introduction


• Part 1: Ways of Reading


• 1: Chapter 1: Théâtromanie and Reading


• 2: The Enlightenment Closet


• 3: Closeted Reading


• 4: Reading the Mercure in the Closet


• Part 2: Closet Drama


• 5: Religious Controversy


• 6: Historical Drama


• 7: Erotic Drama


• Conclusion: In and Out of Restif de la Bretonne's Closet


• Bibliography


• Index