Portrait et célébrité au XVIIIe siècle : Laurence Sterne et Bernard Mandeville

Abstract

The eighteenth century witnessed an evolution in the way authors were perceived. They became public personalities, objects of admiration, curiosity, or even repulsion. The success of literary works became increasingly linked to the multiplication of the various representations of their authors. The authors themselves became the subjects of anecdotes circulated in newspapers and magazines while their portraits were duplicated and reproduced under various forms. In the present article, I wish to analyse the relation between portraits of writers and literary celebrity in the eighteenth century through two contrasted examples: that of Laurence Sterne, and that of Bernard Mandeville.