Joan DeJean reveals the origins of the concept of comfort in Western society by analyzing a series of innovations that emerged in the French capital during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. In The Century of Comfort, the author shows how "today's comfort-oriented life is a phenomenon with few precedents in Western history." The researcher describes how the modern home took shape, with its current room layout, the invention of the sofa, running water, and other inventions. According to her, architects, ancient artisans, and the inhabitants of 17th- and 18th-century Paris created the floor plans for residences and shaped our way of living within them. "It was in this city and at this time (1670–1765) that comfort and informality emerged as priorities in domains ranging from architecture and fashion to furniture design and interior decoration," states DeJean. Today, it's hard to imagine a living room without a sofa. When the first known sofas appeared in the 17th century, the result was a radical redesign of interior space. A symbol of a new era of informality and comfort, the sofa emerged in a time known as the golden age of conversation. As the first piece of furniture designed for two people to sit together, it was also considered an invitation to seduction. During this same period, other changes occurred in interior spaces that we now take for granted, as if they had always existed: bedrooms, bathrooms, and living rooms. None of this would have happened without a group of visionaries—legendary architects, the first interior decorators, and the women who shaped the tastes of two successive kings of France: the Marquise de Maintenon, mistress of Louis XIV, and the Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV. From then on, their revolutionary ideas would have a direct influence even in areas beyond the domestic sphere, from clothing to literature, as well as gender issues, changing the way people lived and related.
