''The Sofa: A Moral Tale'' () is a 1742

libertine novel The libertine novel was an 18th-century literary genre of which the roots lay in the European but mainly French libertine tradition. The genre effectively ended with the French Revolution. Themes of libertine novels were anti-clericalism, anti- ...

Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 February 1707 – 12 April 1777), called Crébillon or (Crébillon the Gay) to distinguish him from his father, was a French novelist. Born in Paris, he was the son of a famous tragedian, Prosper Jolyot ...

. It was first translated into English in the spring of 1742 in an edition published by John Nourse and Thomas Cooper. This translation has been attributed to

Eliza Haywood Eliza Haywood (c. 1693 – 25 February 1756), born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. An increase in interest and recognition of Haywood's literary works began in the 1980s. Described as "prolific even by the standar ...

and

William Hatchett William Hatchett (1701 – 1760s) was an English translator, dramatist and pamphleteer. He was born and went to school in York, but by the late 1720s was living in London, where he remained for most of his life. Hatchett appears to have been a long ...

The story concerns a young courtier, Amanzéï, whose soul in a previous life was condemned by

Brahma Brahma (, ) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the triple deity, trinity of Para Brahman, supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity, Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 212– ...

to inhabit a series of sofas, and not to be reincarnated in a human body until two virgin lovers had consummated their passion upon the sofa he "inhabited." The novel is structured as a

frame story A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...

in an oriental setting, explicitly evocative of the ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...

'', in which Amanzéï recounts the adventures of seven couples, which he witnessed in his sofa form, to the bored sultan Shah Baham (grandson of Shehryār and

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major character and the storyteller in the frame story, frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade ...

). The longest episode, that of Zulica, takes up nine chapters; the final episode concerns the teenage Zéïnis and Phéléas. Amanzéï, witnessing their innocent pleasure, is edified and freed through the experience of virtuous love. Many of the characters in the novel are satirical portraits of influential and powerful Parisians of Crébillon's time; the author takes the opportunity to ridicule hypocrisy in its different forms (worldly respectability, virtue, religious devotion). In particular, some recognize

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

in the figure of the ridiculous Shah Baham. Although the book was published anonymously and with a false imprint, Crébillon was discovered to be the author and was exiled to a distance of thirty leagues from Paris on April 7, 1742. He was able to return on July 22, after claiming that the work had been commissioned by

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself '' King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prus ...

and that it had been published against his will. ''Le Sopha'' was translated into English by Haywood and Hatchett in 1742, by

Bonamy Dobrée Bonamy Dobrée (2 February 1891 – 3 September 1974), British academic, was Professor of English Literature at the University of Leeds from 1936 to 1955. Dobrée declared himself a Channel Islander, and was rather proud that both his Bonam ...

in 1927, and by Martin Kamin in 1930 (as ''The Divan: A Morality Story''). ''Le Sopha'' is visible as the title of a book in '' The Toilette'', one of

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

's series of satirical paintings '' Marriage à-la-mode'', made 1743–1745.Robert L. S. Cowley, ''Marriage a-la-mode: a re-view of Hogarth's narrative art'',

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England, and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with t ...

, 1983, , p. 105 It is also the book that Mr. Mercaptan, who calls his own sofa Crébillon, gives to Rosie in

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

's ''

Antic Hay ''Antic Hay'' is a novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1923. The story takes place in London, and gives a satiric depiction of the aimless or self-absorbed cultural elite in the sad and turbulent times following the end of World War I. A 1923 ...

''.

References

* Liz Bellamy, ''Commerce, morality and the eighteenth-century novel'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1998, , p. 61 * D. A. Day, "On the Dating of Three Novels by Crébillon Fils," ''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 56, No. 3. (July 1961), pp. 391–92. * Carole Dornier,
Orient romanesque et satire de la religion: Claude Crébillon, Tanzaï et Néadarné et Le Sopha
" '' Eighteenth-Century Fiction'' Vol. 11: Iss. 4, Article 1 (1999

External links

E-text (Engl. trans. by Bonamy Dobrée)E-text (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sofa: A Moral Tale, The 1742 novels 18th-century French novels French erotic novels 1740s fantasy novels French fantasy novels French satirical novels