In the early to late eighteenth century, the Enlightenment was in full swing in France, and in this era of unprecedented intellectual activity, a large number of great figures who influenced future generations were born: Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Buuffen, and so on. Denis Diderot is one of the representatives.
Recently, the Shanghai Translation Publishing House has launched the first four volumes of the "Diderot's Works" edited by Professor Luo Peng of the Department of French at Peking University, including his philosophical masterpiece "A Record of Philosophical Thoughts" (volume 1), the novel masterpiece "Rama's Nephew" (volume 2), "The Nun" (volume 3) and "Fatalist Jacques and His Master" (volume 4). Four volumes of works, including The Skeptic's Walk and Diderot's Plays, will be published in 2022.
On July 11, the "Diderot Collection New Book Sharing Meeting" was held in Beijing. Shang Jie, a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Yu Zhongxian, a famous writer and translator, came to the scene to interpret Diderot's works for readers.
At the new book sharing meeting, Shang Jie (left) and Yu Zhongxian (right)
Outside of the "Diderot effect", who is Diderot?
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a French Enlightenment thinker, dialectical materialist philosopher, writer, aesthetician, translator, and representative of the "encyclopedic school".
Born into a family of ordinary craftsmen in France, Diderot entered the University of Paris in 1729 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1732. His most widely known and important contribution was undoubtedly the compilation of the first encyclopedia in French history (full name Encyclopedia, or a detailed dictionary of science, art and crafts, commonly referred to as the Encyclopedia) in twenty years of service. The book is one of the highest achievements of the Enlightenment in the 18th century.
In addition, Diderot has many outstanding contributions to philosophy, literature, drama, aesthetics, etc.: as a philosopher, he advocated metaphysical dialectics and epistemology, materialist dialectics and contract theory; as an aesthetician, he proposed the "beauty in relation" theory, "On Beauty" is an important attempt to establish a materialist aesthetic; as a dramatist, his theatrical creative ideas, that is, the theory of creating "serious dramas", have produced epoch-making significance in the history of literature; as a novelist, he "created a precedent for modern novels".
And Diderot's influence on future generations did not fade more than two hundred years later. At the time of consumerism, a short article, "The Troubles After Parting from old nightgowns", because of the consumerism or supporting effects it touches, is defined by the American sociologist Juliet Schröll as the "Diderot Effect" (Schor, Juliet B. The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need), and is well known and discussed by a wide range of readers.
Diderot's thought, which Pascal praised as "sensitive", had an extremely precise and profound insight into many issues, which gave his thought a unique face and a complex and changeable form, provoking generations of researchers to discover new flashes of thought from his writings. This is also the best answer to "Why do we still read Diderot today?"
Diderot was more "modern" than 19th-century writers
Speaking of 18th-century French novels, Yu Zhongxian said that in the 18th century, novels were an emerging genre. "It is precisely because of the emerging things that they are bolder, more profoundly exposed, more bitterly satirized, and more distinct in their views." Whether it is Voltaire's philosophical novels such as "The Honest Man" and "The Innocent Man", or Diderot's "Jacques the Fatalist and His Master" and "Ramo's Nephew", they all follow the same "routine".
"Diderot and his contemporaries, these encyclopedic figures, who could write everything and wrote everything wonderfully, and some of them were very sharply written, such as Jacques the Fatalist and His Master, and Ramo's Nephew." Yu Zhong said first.
Yu Zhongxian specifically mentioned the "modernity" in Diderot's novels. In his view, Diderot was closer to the way of writing novels in the 20th century than 19th-century writers such as Balzac and even Zola. "Here in Diderot arises the possibilities of writing—not in what kind of story to tell, but in how to tell a story, which is not one, but of possibilities, which is the essence of modern literature."
Diderot also wrote plays, writing articles about theater theory. Yu Zhongxian believes that in terms of literary achievements, France in the 17th century is the most powerful in Europe, because the French language has been tempered for more than a century and has formed an elegant style. The French classical drama developed from the ancient Greek tradition, the tragedy represented by Racine and Corneille, and the comedy represented by Molière, developed to a peak. By the 18th century, the Writers of the Enlightenment generation began to seek change.
"Compared with the 17th century, in terms of literature, this generation of writers is rebellious, and in terms of politics, thought, sociology, philosophy, it is even more powerful, it is completely new." 」
In Yu Zhongxian's view, Diderot's works on theater theory are "radiant, very critical, and the things he proposes have guiding significance", but "his theatrical creation itself is relatively pale". Theatrical creation throughout the 18th century was in a state of exploration, and it was not until the emergence of the Hugo generation in the 19th century that it reached another peak in art.
Scene of the new book sharing meeting Shang Jie (left) and Yu Zhongxian (right)
The ideological nature of the work is higher than that of the literary nature
Shang Jie said at the launch of his new book that although we think 19th century French literature seems to be better, the 18th century is a completely different century. On the eve of the French Revolution, social unrest was fraught with rifts that gave thinkers room to make a difference. "A thinker like Montesquieu who wrote On the Spirit of the Law actually wrote a novel, and it became a bestseller."
Jacques the Fatalist and His Master was called "the highest achievement of the art of the eighteenth-century novel" by Milan Kundera, however, Diderot did not give it much meaning at the time of its writing. The way the novel is written is very special, Shang Jie mentioned that the average person who writes novels pays attention to causality and logical chains, while Diderot's novels are "constantly distracted". Whenever there was nothing to say, the master told Jacques and talked about your love history. After two sentences, I immediately put it down and waited until the next time there was nothing to talk about.
"In the history of European literature, Don Quixote was written in this way." Shang Jie said. "The novel discusses some philosophical things, including what human nature is, and we didn't think about it before, but in fact, human nature contains a lot of very rich content."
For example, in Rama's Nephew, one character is "I", a philosopher; the other is "Ramo's nephew", a second-rate son. The philosopher "I" spoke with great tastelessness and was full of seriousness; Rama's nephew was not serious, but his character was extremely full. In this way, Diderot wrote with a perfect blend of ideas and passions in French culture.
It is reported that during Diderot's lifetime, his masterpieces "Ramo's Nephew" and "Fatalist Jacques and His Master" could not be published. But then it brought him a steady stream of attention. Marx said diderot was his favorite writer, and Comte said he was the greatest philosopher of the 18th century and an important precursor to positivism. The cultural pluralist Hudel cites Diderot's observations on culture and language.
"Not only Diderot, but also Rousseau and Voltaire, they wrote literary works, and their thinking was stronger than literary." Shang Jie said. He pointed out that although the philosophical position of the entire 18th century is difficult to describe uniformly, Enlightenment thinkers have inspired us through very fragmented and specific inspirational things in their vast and complex writing practices.