Montesquieu’s Persian Letters explores cultural identity through irony

Montesquieu’s masterpiece, ‘Persian Letters’, serves as a tool for cultural anthropology by examining how individuals perceive ‘the other’ and move beyond their own cultural horizons. Through the eyes of two Persian travelers, Usbek and Rica, the work utilizes irony to deconstruct the prejudices and vanities of 18th-century French society.

By positioning Paris not as the absolute center of the world but as a territory subject to scrutiny, the narrative uses travel as a means of critical knowledge and mental liberation. The text highlights the tension between cultures, noting how the travelers are often viewed as mere curiosities or spectacles by the local population, while simultaneously allowing the characters to question European pride and social automatisms.