Salon (gathering)

A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring host or hostess, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "to please and educate" (aut delectare aut prodesse est). The salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical salons of the 17th century and 18th century, were carried on until quite recently in urban settings among like-minded people of a 'set': many 20th-century salons could be instanced.

References

• Dictionaire des lettres françaises: le XVIIe siècle, revised edition by Patrick Dandrey, ed. (Paris: Fayard, 1996), p.1149.