Focusing on 18th century Enlightenment writing, contributors explore the social, religious, artistic, political and scientific dimensions of the grey area that binds so-called 'illuminist' and 'rational' forms of thinking - the super-enlightenment.

While many periods of history are popularly known by their 'great men', the Enlightenment stands out for the prominence of its 'great groups’. This volume assembles leading scholars using data-driven scholarship to study the networks that made the Enlightenment possible, and contributed to creating a new sense of European identity. From Voltaire’s correspondence with Catherine the Great, to Adam Smith’s travels on the European continent, mediated and unmediated communication networks were the lifeline of the Enlightenment. What is particularly notable about the Enlightenment is how...