9791035807078 Lettres persanes - Poche From Paris to Venice, via Smyrna, Rica and Usbek, two Persian travelers, exchange letters with their friends who have remained in Persia. For eight years, they observe and describe Western customs, the functioning of the absolute monarchy, the power of the Church. Through this epistolary novel, Montesquieu composes a critical picture of France during the Ancien Régime.