New Essays on Diderot

The writing and thought of Denis Diderot, a leading figure of the French Enlightenment, are explored in this anniversary volume.

James Fowler (Edited by)

9780521769563, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 March 2011

280 pages
23.5 x 16 x 1.9 cm, 0.58 kg

The great eighteenth-century French thinker Denis Diderot (1713–84) once compared himself to a weathervane, by which he meant that his mind was in constant motion. In an extraordinarily diverse career he produced novels, plays, art criticism, works of philosophy and poetics, and also reflected on music and opera. Perhaps most famously, he ensured the publication of the Encyclopédie, which has often been credited with hastening the onset of the French Revolution. Known as one of the three greatest philosophes of the Enlightenment, Diderot rejected the Christian ideas in which he had been raised. Instead, he became an atheist and a determinist. His radical questioning of received ideas and established religion led to a brief imprisonment, and for that reason, no doubt, some of his subsequent works were written for posterity. This collection of essays celebrates the life and work of this extraordinary figure as we approach the tercentenary of his birth.

Introduction James Fowler
Part I. Diderot the Philosophe: 1. Diderot and the Ancients Russell Goulbourne
2. Diderot's earlier philosophical writings Marian Hobson
3. The Encyclopédie: innovation and legacy Daniel Brewer
4. Diderot, Rousseau and the art of craft Angelica Goodden
5. Diderot's anti-colonialism Anthony Strugnell
6. Diderot's letters to Sophie Volland Pierre Saint-Amand
Part II. Novels: 7. Les Bijoux indiscrets: transition or translation? Anne Deneys-Tunney
8. Jacques le fataliste et son maître: finding myself in the work of another Joseph Breines
9. La Religieuse: Diderot's 'Richardsonian' novel James Fowler
Part III. Dialogues: 10. Eyes wide shut: Le Rêve de d'Alembert Kate E. Tunstall
11. Diderot's Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville: logics of the human Andrew Curran
Part IV. Plays and Dramatic Theory: 12. Diderot and Olympe de Gouges Carol L. Sherman
13. Diderot and Destouches Derek Connon
Part V. Music, Performance, Aesthetics: 14. Diderot's voice(s): music and reform, from the Querelle des Bouffons to Le Neveu de Rameau Mark Darlow
15. Diderot and the aesthetics of the Libretto Béatrice Didier
16. Diderot's Salons: Ekphrasis and related issues Tom Baldwin.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: general [DSB]