Éros éclairé ? Entre connaissance de l’amour et l’amour comme connaissance, des contes de fées au conte de Crébillon fils

Eros becomes undeniably prominent in a century described as the century of “volupté”. This ­concept is anchored in the ­philosophers’ rationalization as well as in the lingering fairylandencountered in a genre still ­considered as frivolous : the tale. In turns, the tale is a vehicle of the ideals claimed by the Enlightenment leaders or is in opposition to them, revealing nonetheless with Crébillon fils, the potentiality of literary experimentation.