Why did some people in eighteenth century Europe think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism ?
Some people in eighteenth century Europe thought that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism. Printing pr^ss was the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion was the force that would destroy the basis of despotism. Such were the views of Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a novelist in eighteenth century France. In many of Mercier’s novels, the heroes are transformed by acts of reading. They devour books, are lost in the world books create, and become enlightened in the process. He was convinced of the power of print and proclaimed : ‘Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer’.
