| Description |
1 online resource (x, 142 pages) |
| Series |
Routledge studies in eighteenth-century literature ; 21 |
|
Routledge studies in eighteenth-century literature ; 21.
|
| Contents |
Diderot and the Lettre de Cachet: Historical contexts of the Lettre de Cachet. Diderot's personal experience with the Lettre de Cachet. Diderot and the Donjon de Vincennes. Lettres de cachet from Suzanne's Mother. Lettres de cachet in Diderot's other works of fiction -- Stained souls and the Lettre de Cachet: La religieuse and Epistolary confusions. Lettres et Mots Cachés: What Suzanne cannot say. Stained words of "Mère/Père-Versité". Illegitimate reality makes for legitimate fiction: the Nogent affair. La religieuse and the Nogent affair. Disorderly daughters: Suzanne Simonin and Henriette-Émilie de Bautru -- "Est-elle Bonne, est-elle méchante?": Bonne fille, Mauvaise Religieuse. La Bête Féroce: demonic divinity or divine madness?. Julia Kristeva and Denis Diderot's "Excursion into the Heart of Belief" |
| Summary |
"This volume explores the influence of the lettre de cachet on both Diderot's personal life and his works, beginning with an examination of Diderot's experience as recipient of two such arrest warrants, followed by an analysis of his references to these warrants in three of his fictional works, Le Père de famille, Jacques le fataliste and Est-il bon? Est-il méchant?. A scrutiny of Diderot's mémoire/lettre novel La Religieuse proposes that, on the basis of moral cupidity, or self-gain, Madame Simonin sends her daughter Suzanne two veiled lettres de cachet that demand her confinement to a convent. The exploration of a fascinating real-life case of Henriette-Émilie de Bautru, a young comtesse whose mother confined her to a convent as a result of a lettre de cachet also based on motives of greed, leads to an examination of the similarities between Suzanne and the Comtesse in terms of their illegitimacy, questioning of authority and subsequent rebellion. A consideration of writing and communication in La Religieuse as they relate to this rebellion leads to an investigation of Diderot's admiration of the mystery of female genius and artistic creativity as discussed in his essay Sur les femmes. The works of Julia Kristeva, especially her Post-Scriptum addressed to Diderot at the end of her work Thérèse mon amour: Thérèse d'Avila, serve as a theoretical basis for an interpretation of Suzanne's experience as victim of a lettre de cachet and her search for a psychological rebirth of her être caché"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on March 14, 2019) |
| Subject |
Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784 -- Criticism and interpretation
|
| SUBJECT |
Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784 fast |
| Subject |
Lettres de cachet in literature.
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Law and literature -- France -- History -- 18th century
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LITERARY CRITICISM / European / French.
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LITERARY CRITICISM / General
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Lettres de cachet in literature
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Law and literature
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France
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| Genre/Form |
History
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Criticism, interpretation, etc.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2019009625 |
| ISBN |
9780429057076 |
|
0429057075 |
|
9780429614811 |
|
0429614810 |
|
9780429613609 |
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0429613601 |
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9780429616020 |
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0429616023 |
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