Mística y seducción: el affaire Cadière-Girard y el triunfo de la racionalidad ilustrada en Thérèse philosophe

Abstract

This article aims at examining the theo-retic and literary models of sexuality offered in the libertine novel Thérèse philosophe, focusing on its representation of the Ca-dière-Girard affair. During this scandalous trial that took place in the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence in 1731, Jean-Baptiste Girard (Jesuit priest) was accused by Marie-Catherine Cadière (penitent) of sorcery and sexual abuse, while he claimed these charges were calumnies. We seek to show the de-velopment of a rationalist, demystifying, scientific perspective on this affair, charac-teristic of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, which tended to neutralize and obliterate charismatic religiosity.

Keywords

• Charismatic religiosity
• Seduction
• Libertine literature
• Enlightenment philosophy
• The Cadière-Girard affair
• Thérèse philosophe