Dark Side of Diderot / Le Diderot des ombres

This collection of essays investigates the darker aspects of Diderot, writer, art critic, philosopher and encyclopdiste. The chapters focus on the schism between positive images of the Enlightenment and an undercurrent of disorder, transgression and clandestine intellectual and social practices. Diderots role in this fissure is critically scrutinised through an analysis of the interface between Enlightenment and its dark side. In his reticence before authority and censorship, in the richness and complexity of his literary and philosophical works, in the emotional conflict of his theatre, or in his innovative aesthetic vision, Diderot consistently evokes the darker side of the Enlightenment.
Cet ouvrage interroge laspect plus sombre de Diderot, crivain, critique dart, philosophe et encyclopdiste. Les contributeurs traitent du clivage entre dun ct, les images positives des Lumires et, de lautre, le dsordre, la rvolte, la transgression, les pratiques sociales et intellectuelles clandestines qui en constituent son corollaire parfois sous-jacent. Le rle de Diderot au cur de ce clivage sera analys dans le cadre dune interrogation plus large du couple Ombres/Lumires. Diderot incarne dans ses rticences devant les autorits et la censure, dans la richesse et la complexit de ses ouvrages littraires et philosophiques, dans les conflits affectifs de son thtre, ou encore dans sa vision esthtique innovatrice une alternative, plus sombre, la marche des Lumires triomphantes.

James Hanrahan is Ussher Lecturer in eighteenth-century French studies at Trinity College Dublin.
Sofra Pierse is Senior Lecturer in French and Francophone studies at University College Dublin.