A spirited biography of the prophetic and sympathetic philosopher who helped build the foundations of the modern world.
Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world’s first comprehensive Encyclopédie into existence. But his most daring writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his best books for posterity–for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings left behind after his death, Diderot challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of the slave trade, to the norms of human sexuality. One of Diderot’s most attentive readers during his lifetime was Catherine the Great, who not only supported him financially, but invited him to St. Petersburg to talk about the possibility of democratizing the Russian empire.
In this thematically organized biography, Andrew S. Curran vividly describes Diderot’s tormented relationship with Rousseau, his curious correspondence with Voltaire, his passionate affairs, and his often iconoclastic stands on art, theater, morality, politics, and religion. But what this book brings out most brilliantly is how the writer's personal turmoil was an essential part of his genius and his ability to flout taboos, dogma, and convention.
About the Author
Andrew S. Curran is the William Armstrong Professor of the Humanities at Wesleyan University. The author of two previous books, Sublime Disorder- Physical Monstrosity in Diderot's Universe and The Anatomy of Blackness- Science and Slavery in an Age of Enlightenment, Curran is a Fellow in the history of medicine at the New York Academy of Medicine and a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques.
Industry Reviews
"Engrossing...a narrative sustained with appealing clarity and energy...readers of this biography are likely to be impressed by the scope of Diderot's thought and by his courage."
Washington Post
"Making sense of these mercurial works is not easy, and situating them in such a life as Diderot's is even more challenging, so it is remarkable that...Curran succeeds admirably in both regards...the most accessible version of the life and work of this protean figure...excellent."
New York Review of Books
"Curran does a terrific job of sorting through the crazily complicated history of the Encyclopedie's publication...[a] revivifying new book."
The New Yorker
"[The Encyclopedie's] publication history is elegantly untangled by Mr. Curran, whose clear style and interest in the psychology of it all transforms it into a lively narrative...you are bound to be exhilarated by [Diderot's] creativity."
Wall Street Journal
"A clear and compelling account of this magnificent but mercurial thinker...With confidence and care, Curran traces Diderot's breathtaking intellectual itinerary...cogent and insightful."
Los Angeles Review of Books
"[A] marvelous account of the philosophe's life and work. But this is much more than a biography, as Curran renders in vivid detail the social and intellectual life of eighteenth-century France...Readers will be left with a new appreciation for Diderot."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A lively biography...An intellectually dense and well-researched yet brisk journey into one of history's most persuasive dissenters."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
