Joseph Harris is Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published widely on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French literature, particularly drama, and is the author of Hidden Agendas: Cross-Dressing in Seventeenth-Century France (Tübingen: 2005). His research interests include gender and sexuality; the prehistory of psychology; laughter; and dramatic spectatorship. He is editor of a volume of Nottingham French Studies entitled 'Identification Before Freud: French Perspectives'. He is currently working on a project on death and murder in Corneille's theatre.

this is a subtle, well-argued and scholarly account of early modern France's response to a highly complex set of questions that are still resonant today.

• Introduction ; 1. Subjectivity and the senses: from deceit to enthralment ; 2. D'Aubignac: the rationalist spectator ; 3. Corneille: the indulgent spectator ; 4. Narrative pleasures: from intellect to emotion ; 5. Dubos: the contemplative spectator ; 6. Between interest and identification ; 7. Rousseau: the alienated spectator ; 8. Beyond domesticity: Diderot and the drame ; Epilogue: the decline of the spectator

Joseph Harris is Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published widely on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French literature, particularly drama, and is the author of Hidden Agendas: Cross-Dressing in Seventeenth-Century France (Tübingen: 2005). His research interests include gender and sexuality; the prehistory of psychology; laughter; and dramatic spectatorship. He is editor of a volume of Nottingham French Studies entitled 'Identification Before Freud: French Perspectives'. He is currently working on a project on death and murder in Corneille's theatre.

this is a subtle, well-argued and scholarly account of early modern France's response to a highly complex set of questions that are still resonant today.

• Introduction ; 1. Subjectivity and the senses: from deceit to enthralment ; 2. D'Aubignac: the rationalist spectator ; 3. Corneille: the indulgent spectator ; 4. Narrative pleasures: from intellect to emotion ; 5. Dubos: the contemplative spectator ; 6. Between interest and identification ; 7. Rousseau: the alienated spectator ; 8. Beyond domesticity: Diderot and the drame ; Epilogue: the decline of the spectator

Joseph Harris is Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published widely on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French literature, particularly drama, and is the author of Hidden Agendas: Cross-Dressing in Seventeenth-Century France (Tübingen: 2005). His research interests include gender and sexuality; the prehistory of psychology; laughter; and dramatic spectatorship. He is editor of a volume of Nottingham French Studies entitled 'Identification Before Freud: French Perspectives'. He is currently working on a project on death and murder in Corneille's theatre.

this is a subtle, well-argued and scholarly account of early modern France's response to a highly complex set of questions that are still resonant today.

• Introduction ; 1. Subjectivity and the senses: from deceit to enthralment ; 2. D'Aubignac: the rationalist spectator ; 3. Corneille: the indulgent spectator ; 4. Narrative pleasures: from intellect to emotion ; 5. Dubos: the contemplative spectator ; 6. Between interest and identification ; 7. Rousseau: the alienated spectator ; 8. Beyond domesticity: Diderot and the drame ; Epilogue: the decline of the spectator