CYRUS MASROORI, WHITNEY MANNIES, JOHN CHRISTIAN LAURSEN (EDS.), “PERSIA AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT”, LIVERPOOL: LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2021, 273 P.

Abstract

Seventeenth and eighteenth-century diplomats and travelers to Persia wrote extensively about the region, nourishing the European interest in remote cultures and providing enough details about its cultural, social, and political life to intrigue Enlightenment thinkers. Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot are only some, but arguably the most famous of the Enlightenment intellectuals that employed this discursively constructed space as a backdrop for political and philosophical reflection. Persia and the Enlightenment, a collective volume edited by Cyrus Masroori, Whitney Mannies, and John Christian Laursen, is a most welcome addition to both Enlightenment scholarship and cross-cultural studies. In nine essays, the volume explores the multifaceted intersections of Enlightenment thought and Persian civilization. From the fascination of the European Enlightenment intellectuals with Persia, to strategies of constructing otherness, to the role of Persia in the configuration of modern European identities, this volume engages with a wide range of captivating questions that reveal the complexity of (early) modern cultural encounters and contribute to debunking reductionist assumptions about the East-West cultural dynamics.