'Il nous présenta de la liqueur': An Alimentary Reading of Drinking, Manipulation and Education in Le Rideau levé, ou L'Éducation de Laure (1786).

In Le Rideau levé, ou L'Éducation de Laure (1786), Mirabeau's heroine describes the erotic, philosophical and scientific education she receives from her stepfather, in which she learns how to manage her sexual appetites and her bodily hygiene and learns the ethics and practical application of erotic pleasure. One of the principles her father claims underpin her education is that of respecting others' autonomy and treating them as one would like to be treated. Yet a symbolic and historicized reading of drinking within the text, exploring key scenes through the bottom of the glass, reveals that Laure's libertine chemist father uses apparently benign social rituals and staged pleasure to manipulate others from the inside out. Far from being radical, by overriding others' autonomy Laure's father cultivates an educational project rooted in cruelty and traditional, patriarchal hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]