Abstract
This first conference will focus on the historiography of the Enlightenment. It will review research on the subject over the last few decades, and highlight the enormous expansion of public participation in literary and intellectual life compared to previous centuries. I will link this expansion to the so-called " consumer revolution ", linked to the commercial capitalism of the time. I will suggest that Enlightenment authors adopted a writing strategy centered on readers' active intellectual engagement and desire to cultivate themselves. To illustrate this phenomenon, part of the talk will highlight the literary career of Parisian lawyer Claude-Rigobert Lefebvre de Beauvray.
