We are nowadays confronted with an all-encompassing generational clash. It seems that today more than ever the rift existing between the old and the young cannot be mended anymore. Paradoxically, while ageism has become a widespread plague of modernity, the youth still feels unheard by ‘old white men’.

Is this rift a modern construction, the result of societal, technological and political changes, or has it always existed? Whose voice mattered more in the past: the voice of the young, bold innovators or the voice of the old, wise traditionalists?

In 17th-century French works, with few exceptions, old men were represented as wiser and more experienced, their voice was always listened to and their advice heeded by the youth, who irremediably bent to their will. Fénelon’s Télémaque (1699), for instance, staged an old and wise mentor guiding a willful, recalcitrant youth on a quest to maturity. The 18th century, however, marks a moment of change in this master-disciple narrative. Thanks to the diffusion of ‘coming-of-age’ novels, whose stories revolved around young people, their fears and desires, the youth was brought to the fore of literary discourses.

In my paper I will consider a selection of 18th-century works, from Voltaire to Laclos, and will illustrate how Enlightenment works played a foundational role in creating the fictional full-standing category of youth, whose voice could finally be heard.