Eszter KOVÁCS
Degrees: MA in French language and literature, MA in Hungarian language and literature (SZTE), MA in French literature (Université Lumière Lyon 2), PhD in French Literature (SZTE, ENS de Lyon).
Research interests: history of early modern political thought, French Enlightenment (Diderot and Montesquieu), intellectual history of women with a special focus on early modern female thinkers.
Projects: Pierre Manent’s philosophy in the light of French and British tradition, Montaigne’s political network
Publications: MTMT
Membership: Société Diderot, Société Montesquieu
International scientific cooperation: Montesquieu Bibliothèque & Éditions, digital tasks (IHRIM /UMR CNRS 5317, ENS de Lyon, Université de Lyon/)
Contact: kovacs.eszter[at]uni-nke.hu
Eszter Kovács obtained her PhD in French Literature in 2008 under a joint-supervision agreement between the University of Szeged and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. During her postdoctoral research, she began to specialize besides literary studies in the history of early modern political thought. Since 2018, she has also carried out doctoral studies in political theory, from 2020 at ELTE, in the doctoral program of Ethics and Political Philosophy. She has translated into Hungarian classical texts of French political thought and she has several times obtained the translators’ fellowship of the Centre National du Livre.
Selected publications
Book, translations:
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Útinapló [Travel Journal], translation, notes and introduction by Eszter Kovács, Budapest, L’Harmattan (under publication).
Montesquieu, A törvények szelleméről védelme. Gondolataim [Defense of the Spirit of Law. My Thoughts], selection, translation, introduction and notes by Eszter Kovács, Budapest, L’Harmattan, 2016 (Rezonőr).
Eszter Kovács, La Critique du voyage dans la pensée de Diderot. De la fiction au discours philosophique et politique, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2015 (Les Dix-huitièmes siècles, no 180).
Articles:
Eszter Kovács, “Les stratégies défensives des Lumières. Autour de la Défense de L’Esprit des lois”, in Franck Salaün & Jean-Pierre Schandeler (eds.), Enquête sur la construction des Lumières, Ferney-Voltaire, C18, 2018, p. 37–46.
Eszter Kovács, „A Törökországi levelek kiselbeszéléseinek forrásai. Hét új forrás ismertetése”, Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények, 2017/5, p. 616–630.
Eszter Kovács, „De la méfiance à une critique raisonnée: considérations sur les voyageurs et les voyages chez Diderot”, Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie, no 45, 2010, p. 41–53.