Book description
Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was among the greatest writers of the
Enlightenment, and in Jacques the Fatalist he brilliantly challenged the
artificialities of conventional French fiction of his age. Riding
through France with his master, the servant Jacques appears to act as
though he is truly free in a world of dizzying variety and
unpredictability. Characters emerge and disappear as the pair travel
across the country, and tales begin and are submerged by greater
stories, to reveal a panoramic view of eighteenth-century society. But
while Jacques seems to choose his own path, he remains convinced of one
philosophical belief: that every decision he makes, however whimsical,
is wholly predetermined. Playful, picaresque and comic, Diderot's
novelis a compelling exploration of Enlightment philosophy. Brilliantly
original in style, it is one of the greatest precursors to post-modern
literature.
Denis Diderot was born at Langres in eastern France in 1713. After
graduating in Paris in 1732, he was nominally a law student for ten
years, but was actually leading a precarious bohemian but studious
existence. In the early 1740s he met three contemporaries who were of
great significance to him and to the age: a'Alembert, Condillac and
Rousseau, who assisted Diderot in the compilation of the Encyclopedie,
which he worked on until its completion in 1773. Interested in the
mind-body dichotomy, his work was a bold mixture of science and
philosophy. He died in 1784.
Translated by Michael Henry with an introduction and notes by Martin Hall
