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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2020
Apodemic production shows country-specific variations: some types of texts can be found in most countries, while others are typical of one or another intellectual sphere, but missing elsewhere. The university-level rhetorical exercise, strongly present in Germany, seems to be almost unknown in France. General education handbooks and books on manners form the core of the English discussion on the art of travel, but in France these works do not discuss travel as often. On the other hand, the most ‘typically French’ form of discussing the art of travel comes from the corpus of dissertations originating within the system of scholarly bodies that are referred to under the generic term of académies. These academies, as Daniel Roche and more recently Jeremy Caradonna have shown, formed a very active, extensive, and well-established network.
Two types of texts that are typical of the academies regularly reach the contemporary public. One of them is the reception speech (discours de réception), a new member's speech in front of the scientific body welcoming him; this speech is sometimes published. More visible and more important were the prize contests, which were key moments in the life of the academies: a given academy would issue what can be called an essay question and would publicise it widely. Participants in varying numbers would send in their dissertations anonymously, and among these contributions a jury would select a winner. Rousseau's two Discours were both written to be submitted as entries into contests at the Academy of Dijon – proof that these contests could elicit major contributions to the intellectual life of the period.
The prize contests launched by the academies represent a case of participatory intellectual culture: they are of prime interest to us as they allow a glimpse into the opinions of authors from a variety of backgrounds. The 1785–87 contest launched by the Academy of Lyon affords us important insights into their views on educational travel. Some of these authors are clearly not established writers, but they were all sufficiently well-informed to know about the contest, and ready to put pen to paper.
Caradonna used the term ‘participatory Enlightenment
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