The East and the West, the seraglio and the salons, the intrigues of the sultanas and the coquetry of the Parisians, the muftis and the pope... This is what nourishes the correspondence maintained by Usbek and Rica, Persian lords who left to discover the France of Louis XIV, with their friends who remained in Isfahan. Under the cover of a distant gaze, Montesquieu draws up in the Persian Letters (1721) an uncompromising examination of the morals of his time. Satirical and playful, this polyphonic novel offers a summary of the author's most daring theories. Praise of rationalism and critical thinking, reflection on happiness, plea for reasonable politics and religion: the philosophy is entirely contained in this apparently playful book, which has established itself as one of the first masterpieces of the Enlightenment.