The Orient in 18th century French epistolary novels

Even if the exchange between the West and the East can be traced back to the Middle Ages, it was at the beginning of the 17th century, during the Great Discoveries, that this exchange took its golden age. Europe was enthusiastic about the Orient in the eighteenth century, and we are curious to know the image of this continent in the eyes of Europeans. This research focuses on two representative French epistolary novels of the eighteenth century - Montesquieu's Persian Letters and Jean Boyer d'Argens' Chinese Letters. Through them, the following questions are mainly addressed in this research: What is the image of the Orient in 18th century French epistolary novels? What are the functions of this image in these novels? And finally, what are the differences between Montesquieu's Persia and Boyer d'Argens' China?