Peut-on être heureuse au sérail ? Le bonheur des femmes d’Orient dans les récits de voyage à l’aube des Lumières (1680-1727)
Can we be happy in a seraglio? Oriental women’s happiness in the travel stories at the dawn of the Enlightenment (1680-1727)

Summary/Abstract: French travelers speak about the reality for oriental women in their travel books published in the very first Enlightenment, what is. They could meet them, observe them and build both an anthropological and a philosophical thought. The split between the Orient and the Occident is so strong as far as the social and moral life is concerned that having an idea about women’s happiness in the seraglio meant asking travelers to regard the Orient as a possible mirror for the Occident. It is hard for these travelers to pretend that slavery, polygamy and the only male entrance in Heaven can favour women’s happiness. But nevertheless, each happiness is as its society defines it.

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