Editing Persian Letters (section)

==Plot summary==
In 1711, Usbek leaves his [[seraglio]] in [[Isfahan]] to make the long journey to France, accompanied by his young friend Rica. He leaves behind five wives (Zashi, Zéphis, Fatmé, Zélis, and Roxane) in the care of a number of black [[Eunuch (court official)|eunuchs]], one of whom is the head or first eunuch. During the trip and their long stay in [[Paris]] (1712–1720), they comment, in letters exchanged with friends and [[mullah]]s, on numerous aspects of Western, Christian society, particularly French politics and manners, including a biting satire of the System of [[John Law (economist)|John Law]]. Over time, various disorders surface back in the seraglio, and, beginning in 1717 (Letter 139 [147]), that situation rapidly unravels. Usbek orders his head [[eunuch]] to crack down, but his message does not arrive in time, and the internal revolt brings about the death of his wives, including the vengeful suicide of his favorite, Roxane, and, it appears, most of the eunuchs.

=== Chronology ===
The chronology can be summarized as follows:
* Letters 1–21 (1–23): The journey from Isfahan to France, which lasts almost 14 months (from 19 March 1711 to 4 May 1712).
* Letters 22–89 (24–92): Paris in the reign of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], 3 years in all (from May 1712 to September 1715).
* Letters 90–137 (93–143) plus [Supplementary Letter 8 (145)]: the Regency of [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe d'Orléans]], covering five years (from September 1715 to November 1720).
* Letters 138–150 (146–161): the collapse of the seraglio in Isfahan, approximately 3 years (1717–1720).

=== Dénouement ===
While Usbek appreciates the freer relations among men and women in the West, he remains, as master of a seraglio, in some measure a prisoner of his past. His wives play the role of languorous, abandoned lovers, he that of master and lover, with limited communication and little revelation of their true selves; Usbek's language with them is as constrained as theirs with him. Suspecting from the outset, moreover, that he is not assured of a return to Persia, Usbek is also already disabused with respect to the attitude of his wives (letters 6 and 19 [20]). The seraglio is a bed of tension from which he increasingly distances himself, trusting his wives no more than he really trusts his eunuchs (Letter 6).

Everything cascades in the final letters (139–150 [147–161]), thanks to a sudden [[analepsis|analepse]] of more than three years with respect to the sequence of letters by date. From letter 69 (71) to letter 139 (147) – chronologically from 1714 to 1720 – not a single letter from Usbek relates to the seraglio, which from letter 94 to 143 (and even in the posthumous edition from supplementary letter 97 to letter supplementary letter 8 [145]) is unmentioned in any guise. The letters from 126 to 137 (132 to 148) are from Rica, which, when examined closely, means that for about fifteen months (from 4 August 1719 to 22 October 1720) Usbek is silent. Although he has in the meantime received letters, they are unknown to the reader until the final series, which is more developed after the addition of supplementary letters 9–11 (157, 158, 160) of 1758, although Usbek has learned as early as October 1714 that "the seraglio is in disorder" (letter 63 [65]). As the spirit of rebellion advances, he decides to take action, but too late; with delays in the transmission of letters and the loss of some of them, the situation is beyond remedy.

A dejected Usbek is apparently resigned to the necessity of returning, with little hope, to Persia; on 4 October 1719 he laments: "I shall deliver my head to my enemies" (147 [155]). He nevertheless does not do so: late in 1720 he is still in Paris, for letters 134–137 (140–145), which contain the history of Law's "System", are in fact posterior to Roxane's last missive (dated 8 May 1720), which he must already have received – the usual time for delivery being about five months – when he writes the latest in date of his own (supplementary letter 8 and letter 138 [145 and 146]), in October and November 1720. There is no reason to think he ever actually returns.