Les aventures de Télémaque suivies des aventures d'Aristonoüs

by François de Salignac de La Mothe- Fénelon

"Les aventures de Télémaque suivies des aventures d'Aristonoüs" by Fénelon is a didactic novel written in the 1690s and first published in 1699. The work follows young Télémaque, guided by Mentor—actually the goddess Minerva in disguise—through adventures across Mediterranean lands including Sicily, Egypt, and Phoenicia. Through these travels, the story serves as both moral instruction and political treatise, presenting ideals of governance that contemporaries read as veiled criticism of Louis XIV's absolutism. The novel profoundly influenced Enlightenment philosophy.