On July 11, Shang Jie, a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Yu Zhongxian, a translator, visited the one-way space in Beijing to discuss the significance and influence of Denis Diderot (1713-1784), one of the representative figures of the French Enlightenment in the 18th century, and his main work "Encyclopedia" from multiple perspectives such as history, philosophy and literature. Although Diderot's name is not unfamiliar to many people, today, more than two hundred years after the Age of Enlightenment, people regard it more as a historical symbol than really enter his work. However, Diderot, with the deep insight and uniqueness he shows in his work, remains attractive to people living in the 21st century.
As a representative of the French Enlightenment in the 18th century, Diderot is best known as a representative of the encyclopedic school. As the eldest son in his family, he studied theology and philosophy at the Sorbonne and then the University of Paris, and showed great enthusiasm for literature, but did not follow his family's expectations and became a lawyer or doctor. In 1747, Diderot and the mathematician D'Alembert presided over the compilation of the Encyclopedia, which lasted for 21 years and concentrated the major achievements of Europe in science and technology, industry, agriculture, philosophy, history, etc., which lasted for 35 volumes, becoming the climax of the French Enlightenment. Diderot died at his home in Paris in 1784 and was buried in the Church of Saint-Roc in Paris, where he was buried in the Panthéon in 2013.
In addition to the Encyclopedia, Diderot has left a rich intellectual legacy in many fields such as philosophy, literature, aesthetics, and drama. His novel Jacques the Fatalist and His Master was praised by Milan Kundera as "the highest achievement of the art of the eighteenth-century novel". Kundera paid homage to him by creating a three-act play of Jacques and His Master. In addition, it is often used to describe the phenomenon of buying more and more other commensurate items in the process of consumption in order to match a certain commodity - the "Diderot effect", which is also born from his work "Troubles After Parting from old nightgowns", which is popular. For today's readers, Diderot is not only a historical figure who is "unfamiliar" and only carries the label of "Enlightenment thinker", but his rich ideas and works should show a broader and more diverse connotation and thinking, which is fascinating.
At the sharing meeting, Shang Jie (left), a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Yu Zhongxian, a translator.
Jacques, tell us your love story
Shangjie believes that some labels targeting Diderot may be misleading to us. For example, if Diderot was an atheist, he himself might not have approved of it absolutely. His anti-religion is aimed at all ready-made customs, habits, ways of thinking, in short, very depressing and unpleasant things, even if not religious, worthy of doubt and criticism. Therefore, the best way to break these labels is to read Diderot's work. French society in the 18th century tore a crack in the clash of old and new ideas, providing space for thinkers like Diderot to make a difference. Shang Jie said that these people are not university professors, nor are they in the system, but only write in the form of a critique of society. Even for Diderot, "when he wrote, there was no great meaning that posterity gave to those halos, like Jacques the Fatalist and His Master, who may have written it casually in order to make some money or for other reasons." In this novel, Jacques and his master embark on an aimless journey where the reader does not know their identities or where they will go. During the journey, the master and servant narrated their respective experiences, discussing different topics such as popular issues in society, novels, religion, morality and ethics. The novel is also the most reviewed and adapted work of Diderot. Shangjie said that Diderot completed the novel in a "forked" way. Diderot told the reader the truth about the momentary thoughts he wrote, "Do you say I wrote this well or that well?" This is the fork in the road. Among them, there are also interruptions in modern literature, and there are various possibilities, the possibility is the accident, the accident produces the accident, and the accident produces the excess. In this way, the diversity and richness of human nature can be naturally revealed.
Both Shang Jie and Yu Zhongxian mention that Jacques the Fatalist and His Master have some things in common with another famous novel, Don Quixote. Yu Zhongxian said that 18th-century writers were very good at using dialogue styles, and perhaps this genre was more likely to express the confrontation of ideas. Shangjie believes that the dialogue body may be influenced by ancient Greek philosophy and drama. Although the main characters in both novels are one master and one servant, Diderot writes more modernly. In the dialogue, he put himself in the position of the reader, "I don't know what this protagonist is about, we let this protagonist appear in the narrative, let this protagonist say such a thing, tell such a story." Wait until the story can't go on, let's continue to travel, go somewhere and lie down again, Jacques, tell your love story again. This narrative was more modern than Balzac's, and had a great influence on many later writers. Yu Zhongxian said that if Chinese writers after the reform and opening up had read Diderot earlier, perhaps their practice at that time would have been more active and conscious, rather than waiting until they read Kundera's works before they were affected.
Diderot's Collected Works (volumes 1-4), by Denis Diderot, edited by Luo Peng, Zhang Wen, Yuan Shuren, Wu Dayuan, Fu Jinyong, etc., Shanghai Translation Publishing House, June 2021 edition.
There are hundreds of faces in the middle of the day
Diderot once said of himself, "In the middle of a day I have a hundred faces, I am quiet, sad, fantasizing, gentle, rough, excited, enthusiastic." "His work is diverse in style and extremely rich in thought. Yu Zhongxian believes that as a writer who involves everything but is not a long story, Diderot can have a variety of readings. For example, he also mentions that Diderot's atheism is not entirely absolute. In her epistolary novel The Nun, the protagonist Susan lives in different monasteries after being forced to become a nun, describing the injustices she suffered. In this story, Diderot not only attacks the church and its dark side, but also expresses a critique of the old social order and inhumanity. Shang Jie mentioned that although Diderot's materialist philosophy is a bit boring to say, the core part of his work is actually "crazy", like a dream, crazy and excited, but also very realistic, can touch the reader. For example, In Rama's Nephew, Rama's nephew is particularly unorthodox compared to "I," a philosopher who speaks seriously, and Diderot combines passion and thought harmoniously to make this character extremely full. For both conventional and old ideas, Diderot was a bold and even brash man, challenging what he opposed.
In addition, Yu Zhongxian also introduced Diderot's achievements in drama on the spot. According to him, the people of the 18th century groped through the transitional stages between classicism and romanticism, including Diderot. He proposed a concept that was neither comedy nor tragedy— "serious drama", without vigorous tragedy and joy. It can be a comedy, but it must be a new drama, it can be a tragedy, but it should not be a glory of talents and beautiful people, emperors and generals, but about the tragedy of the citizens. After completing the play Bastard, Rousseau commented that drama is hypocritical and can only make people degenerate. Diderot insisted that art was conducive to the construction of modern public life, and the gap between the two was created, and finally broke up completely. However, Yu Zhongxian believes that although Diderot's theoretical works are excellent, his theatrical creation is relatively pale and poor.
In this regard, Shangjie said that Diderot, like Rousseau and Voltaire, was more ideological than literary in his works, which may be due to their greater emphasis on the former. Diderot did not want exaggerated expressions, such as expressing feelings of grief or happiness. Serious dramas or dramas seek truth from facts and expose the original form. He also believes that actors should know that they are playing a role when performing, rather than completely oblivious, distinguishing between the two states of the actor in the performance. Diderot also put forward some of his own views on aesthetic thought, such as "the relationship of beauty". In this regard, Shang Jie explained, "Beauty may be a random awakening of things, awakening is to connect something that we did not expect, or did not expect, so that we will have unexpected surprises, which is to establish a relationship." Does it mean existing in a definition or in a separate form? Many of Diderot's things were intuitive, and they were powerful. Thus, if Diderot is summed up simply by labels such as "materialist philosopher" or "atheist", without going into the depths of his writings, one may miss the richness of his work.
Author 丨 Ge Ge
Editor 丨 Zhang Ting
Proofreading 丨 Liu Jun