{"product_id":"illusive-materialisms-the-pleasures-of-femininity-in-eighteenth-century-france-9781531512569","title":"Illusive Materialisms: The Pleasures of Femininity in Eighteenth-Century France","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIllusive Materialisms\u003c\/i\u003e brings a close attention to gender to bear on the philosophical and political argument that sensual pleasure, framed as a mode of feminine responsiveness, is the primary business of enlightenment. Ultimately, the book argues on behalf of a history of feminine speculation that resonates with contemporary feminist and queer efforts to recenter pleasure and its generative illusions in the necessary work of critique. Through its analysis of a materialism that is often hiding in plain sight, \u003ci\u003eIllusive Materialisms\u003c\/i\u003e explores different ways to cultivate delight in a world in ruin. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhile most studies of materialism during the French Enlightenment focus on works by men, \u003ci\u003eIllusive Materialisms\u003c\/i\u003e foregrounds responses by women to the materialist currents that cut across the eighteenth-century canon and that aim to recast femininity as the privileged condition of the modern, enlightened subject. For the women writers examined here, femininity is both a form that is embodied and an art that is practiced, often with transformative effects. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eIllusive Materialisms\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates the crucial role played by femininity in a long history of materialist philosophy. At the same time, it uncovers a specifically feminine engagement with the materialist thought and practice of eighteenth-century France. The book shows how three women authors (Madeleine de Puisieux, Émilie Du Châtelet, and Françoise de Graffigny) rework, revise, and reuse materialist texts and ideas in order to craft an ethic of pleasure whose effects traverse their writing and their life. At the same time, it demonstrates that feminine forms, images, and persons lie at the heart of a tradition of materialist thought stretching from antiquity into the present day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Natania Meeker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Fordham University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.13lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781531512569","brand":"Fordham University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45284560699529,"sku":"9781531512569","price":125.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_bc53e657-0c2c-4225-8f41-bd7602fd9b1a.jpg?v=1771918733","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/illusive-materialisms-the-pleasures-of-femininity-in-eighteenth-century-france-9781531512569","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}