Travelling through time and space, the epigram — a short engraved poem that became a literary genre over time — came to stand at the intersection of epigraphy, archeology, literature and history. Standing at the very crossroad of these disciplines, this book intends to present its subject "dans tous ses états", that is to say in all its forms.

Can we feel the pain of a character in a novel ? Immersed in a fiction, a reader may experience various somatosensory feelings. Such an experience of "empathic reading" is hardly conceivable through theories of interpretation that ignore the role of the biological body.

This book has precedence and an audience in visual arts, critical studies, visual studies and esthetics but also draws on a variety of interdisciplinary texts and topics across the humanities, in literature, poetry and philosophy making it interesting to a wider audience.

This collective book deals with literary translation, be it the very experience of translating or its theory. "Literature" is considered here as a critical expression of artistic worth and a specific view on languages, both of which reveal not only the formal but also the cultural and political stakes of translation.

These 288 letters span the period between Montesquieu's return from travelling and the completion of L'Esprit des lois. They evoke the Parisian literary and scientific scene, news of politics and wars, and, of course, Montesquieu's major works. The writer also reveals himself to be an attentive father and shrewd proprietor.