So I actually decided to poke around /lit/'s cycle of meme

Bump for interest.

these works are rarely read anymore because French people are more interestd in motor scooter affairs and Charlie Hebdo than their historical outlook on government.

>>2431931
The cambridge edition is good, it's with an intro by Issiah Berlin(popularized Maistre in a negative light, but you know intentions don't turn out the way they want). Keep in in mind it's a pamphlet, so the language is more poetry than actual discourse. St Petersburg Dialogues are his magnum opus, which you can read at any time. His book about Rousseau is literally shitposting with style, but you'd have read Social Contract to fully find it funny.

>>2431931
St. Petersburg diaries is fantastic for multiple reasons, not only for the OG reactionary philosophy but also because it's a great account of someone living in the Russian imperial court douring the Napoleonic wars. Tolstoy used it as a source material for War and Peace, for example.

>>2432862
*dialogues
Sorry