Les bruits de la nuit dans la fiction érotique des Lumières, ou les résonances de l’ombre

Nighttime serving as a shelter to forbidden liaisons is a well-known topos. However, 18th-century libertine fiction reminds us that whilst darkness can conceal bodies, it also forces those it hides to be silent. Nighttime amplifies the slightest sound which can betray clandestine lovers. That libertine topos of night disclosing (rather than dissimulating) erotic secrets bears witness to the Age of Enlightenment’s positive reconfiguration of noise as a sign of human vitality. Crucially, this topos also illustrates the difficulty of silencing desire. As a result, nighttime emerges from this topos as full of sounds rather than as silent, while pleasures appear to be painfully constrained, even for libertines.