Denis Diderot, Le Neveu de Rameau [Rameau's Nephew]

David J. Adams (University of Manchester)

Ed. by David Williams, University of Sheffield
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.04: French Writing and Culture: Eighteenth-Century and the Enlightenment, 1700-1800.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Jenny Mander (University of Cambridge), Síofra Pierse (University College Dublin), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1805

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Dialogue
Novel

Resources

Le Neveu de Rameau is perhaps the most perplexing work to have come from the pen of Denis Diderot (q.v.). Even the history of its publication is curious. From internal evidence, it was probably written between 1761 and 1772. So far as is known, however, Diderot did not refer to it in his letters or other writings, and no contemporary author mentions it. This is surprising, for a number of manuscript copies were produced before the end of the eighteenth century. The first printed edition appeared in 1805, not in French, but in a superb, annotated German translation by no less a figure than Goethe, though the manuscript which he used subsequently disappeared. This German version was retranslated into French by two somewhat …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2007 words

Citation: Adams, David J.. "Le Neveu de Rameau". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 August 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4074, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Save this article