Une Lettre Persane

In 1998 it will be 270 years that Montesquieu (1689–1755) came to Vienna where he was hosted by his countryman Eugène de Savoie (1663–1736), one of imperial Austria’s greatest generals. Incidentally, the battle of Zenta, the scene of Eugène’s decisive military triumph against the Ottomans, just had its tricentennial the other day (September 11). Being in Persia myself at the moment, it is tempting to draft a lettre persane with inverted addresses. Usbek à son ami Rustan à Ispahan, reads the first of the letters, in Montesquieu’s fictitious correspondence. Fittingly, this one should read Karl à son ami Jean à Genève: Shiraz, le 6 octobre 1997