Book ID: CBB033822837

Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely (2019)

unapi

Curran, Andrew S. (Author)


Other Press


Publication Date: 2019
Physical Details: 528
Language: English

Best Book of the Year – Kirkus ReviewsA 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 In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings left behind after his death, Diderot challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial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.

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Authors & Contributors
Rispoli, Giulia
Mario Capanna
Jared Holley
Rolando Bellini
Giovanni Cristiani
Tagliagambe, Silvano
Concepts
Biographies
Atheism; agnosticism; irreligion
Philosophy and politics
Science and religion
Philosophy
Science and politics
Time Periods
18th century
20th century
21st century
Enlightenment
17th century
19th century
Places
France
Italy
England
United States
Russia
Soviet Union
Institutions
School of Milan
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