Voluntary Servitude and the Erotics of Friendship

Focusing primarily on three early modern French authors, this book explores the erotics and politics of "voluntary servitude" in classical antiquity and the early modern period through Michel Foucault's late work on governmentality and the care of the self. Marc Schachter explores how these authors-Ã-tienne de La Boétie, Michel de Montaigne, and Marie de Gournay-pursue related inquiries into voluntary servitude and self-control in marriage, friendship, pederasty, and politics.

Dr Marc D. Schachter, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Italy

Contents: Introduction: voluntary servitude, governmentality and the care of the self; Voluntary servitude and the politics of pederasty in Plato's Symposium; Critique and governmentality in La Boétie's Mesnagerie de Xenophon,and Servitude Volontaire; Montaigne's 'voluntary liberty' and the politics of friendship; Friendly usurpations: Gournay and Montaigne; The erotics of friendship and the politics of love; A conclusion in 3 parts: the art of voluntary inservitude; Bibliography; Index.