Rameau's Nephew and First Satire (Oxford World's Classics) (5 page)

1713

5 October: birth of Denis Diderot at Langres, first child of Didier Diderot (1675–1759), a master cutler, and Angélique Vigneron (1677–1748), a tanner’s daughter. There followed Denise (1715–97), Catherine (1716–18), Catherine (II) (171935), Angélique (1720–48), who took the veil and died mad, and Didier-Pierre (1722–87), a strict churchman who could not tolerate his brother’s atheism.

1723

Enters the Jesuit college at Langres.

1726

22 August: receives the tonsure, the first step towards an ecclesiastical career.

1728

Autumn: moves to Paris to continue his education at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, the Jansenist Collège d’Harcourt, and the Collège de Beauvais.

1732

2 September: Master of Arts.

1735

6 August: awarded a bachelor’s degree in theology but, after applying unsuccessfully for a living, abandons his plans for a career in the Church and takes up law, with the reluctant approval of his father.

1737

Abandons law and makes a meagre living as a private tutor, translator, and supplier of sermons to the clergy. Frère Ange, at Diderot’s father’s request, keeps an eye on him.

1741

Contemplates entering the seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, but falls in love with Antoinette Champion (1710–96).

1742

Meets Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

1743

January: His father refuses to allow him to marry Antoinette and has him detained in a monastery at Langres, from which he escapes a month later. 6 November: marries Antoinette secretly in Paris. Publication of his translation of Temple Stanyan’s
History of Greece
.

1744

Birth of Angélique, who lives only a few weeks. Meets Condillac and begins following a course of lectures in surgery.

1745

Translates Shaftesbury’s
Inquiry concerning Virtue, or Merit
.

1746

Beginning of a liaison with Mme de Puisieux which lasts until 1751. Invited by the publisher Le Breton to translate Ephraim Chambers’s
Cyclopaedia
(1728). Meets d’Alembert. June: publishes
Philosophical Thoughts (Pensées philosophiques
) anonymously; it is banned in July. Birth of François-Jacques-Denis. Ordination of Didier-Pierre Diderot.

1747

June: denounced by the curé of Saint-Médard as ‘a most dangerous man’, he is watched by the police. 16 October: becomes joint director, with D’Alembert, of the
Encyclopaedia (Encyclopédie
).

1748

Publication of his first novel,
The Indiscreet Jewels (Les Bijoux indiscrets
). His sister Angélique dies in her convent. October: death of his mother.

1749

24 July–3 November: imprisoned at the Château de Vincennes for publishing the
Letter on the Blind (Lettre sur les aveugles
). There he is visited by Rousseau. On his release, he meets d’Holbach and Grimm.

1750

June: death of François-Jacques-Denis. October: birth of Denis-Laurent, who dies in December. Distribution of the Prospectus of the
Encyclopaedia
.

1751

18 February:
Letter on the Deaf and Dumb (Lettre sur les sourds et muets
). 1 July: publication of volume i of the
Encyclopaedia
.

1752

January: volume ii of the
Encyclopaedia
which, together with volume i, is banned by the Royal Council. The Prades affair brings Diderot into conflict with the authorities. Police raid his house. He entrusts other manuscripts to Malesherbes, the government minister in charge of the book trade, for safekeeping.

1753

November: volume iii of the
Encyclopaedia
. 2 September: birth of Marie-Angélique, his fourth and only surviving child. December:
Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature (Pensées sur l’interprétation de la nature
). Not wishing to provoke the authorities, he publishes no more radical works until 1778.

1754

Volume iv of the
Encyclopaedia
. Begins following a course of chemistry lectures.

1755

Volume v of the
Encyclopaedia
. Moves to the rue Taranne, where he lives until shortly before his death. First of many
contributions appear in Grimm’s
Literary Correspondence (Correspondance littéraire
). July: meets Sophie Volland (1716–84), who may have been his mistress for a time, and with whom he corresponded regularly for many years.

1756

May: volume vi of the
Encyclopaedia
. 29 June: Diderot’s letter to Landois on determinism.

1757

February: publication of the play
The Natural Son (Le Fils naturel
) and the
Conversations about ‘The Natural Son’ (Entretiens sur le Fils naturel
), a discussion of the play and of Diderot’s views on drama. March: beginning of the quarrel with Rousseau. November: volume vii of the
Encyclopaedia
.

1758

D’Alembert states his intention of withdrawing from the
Encyclopaedia
. October: Diderot breaks with Rousseau. November: the play
The Father of the Family (Le Père de famille
) and the
Discourse on Dramatic Poetry (Discours sur la poésie dramatique
).

1759

March: the permission to print the
Encyclopaedia
is withdrawn. 3 June: death of his father. September: the
Encyclopaedia
is condemned by Rome. Writes the first of his nine
Salons
(detailed accounts of the major art exhibitions in Paris, the last completed in 1781) for the
Literary Correspondence
.

1760

February–May: correspondence with the Marquis de Croismare, which becomes the starting point for
The Nun (La Religieuse
). 2 May: first performance of Palissot’s satirical play
Les Philosophes
, which attacks him and the other leading philosophes.

1761

February:
The Father of the Family
is performed in Paris. Writes the
Eulogy of Richardson (Éloge de Richardson
), published in 1762. April (?): meets Jean-François Rameau, nephew of the composer. September: revises the last volumes of the
Encyclopaedia
.

1762

6 August: the Parlement orders the expulsion of the Jesuits. Works on
Rameau’s Nephew (Le Neveu de Rameau
). D’Holbach introduces him to Laurence Sterne, who promises to send him the first six volumes of
Tristram Shandy
. The first of the eleven volumes of plates which accompany the
Encyclopaedia
appears: the last is published in 1772.

1763

Quarrels with his brother who, since 1745, had considered him the Antichrist. Meets David Hume.

1764

October: meets David Garrick. November: is furious to learn that his publisher Le Breton has secretly censored articles of the
Encyclopaedia
.

1765

Reconciled with D’Alembert, but Rousseau rejects his overtures. 1 May: Louis XV grants him permission to sell his library to Catherine II of Russia for 15,000 livres and an annual pension of 1,000 livres. She allows him to use it during his lifetime: it will revert to her only on his death. Autumn: reads volume viii of
Tristram Shandy
which contains the story of Trim’s knee. Resumes, or more probably begins writing
Jacques the Fatalist (Jacques le fataliste
).

1766

Subscribers receive the remaining volumes (viii–xvii) of the
Encyclopaedia
.

1767

Diderot’s brother appointed canon of the cathedral at Langres.

1769

August–September: writes
D’Alembert’s Dream (Le Rêve de D’Alembert
). Falls in love with Mme de Maux.

1770

Writes a number of tales and dialogues, including
The Two Friends from Bourbonne (Les Deux Amis de Bourbonne
).

1771

Writes the
Philosophical Principles Concerning Matter and Movement (Principes philosophiques sur la matière et le mouvement
) and reads a version of
Jacques the Fatalist
to a friend. 26 September:
The Natural Son
staged in Paris. Diderot withdraws it after one performance.

1772

March:
On Women (Sur les femmes
). September: finishes two stories,
This is Not a Story (Ceci n’est pas un conte
) and
Madame de la Carlière
. Marriage of Angélique to an ironmaster, Caroillon de Vandeul.

1773

11 June: leaves Paris for Russia. 15 June–20 August: stays at The Hague, where he revises
Rameau’s Nephew, Jacques the Fatalist
, and an article which would be published as
The Paradox of the Actor (Le Paradoxe sur le comédien
). Writes the
First Satire
. 8 October: arrives at St Petersburg.

1774

In Russia, he works on various writings dealing with politics, physiology, and materialism. 5 March: leaves St Petersburg,
reaching The Hague on 5 April, where he remains until 15 September. Arrives in Paris on 21 October.

1776

A dialogue on atheism, the
Conversation of a Philosopher with the Maréchale de *** (Entretien d’un philosophe avec la Maréchale de
***), appears in Métra’s
Secret Correspondence (Correspondance secrète
).

1777

Continues his collaboration (1772–80) with the abbé Raynal in the
History of the Two Indies (Histoire des deux Indes
), writes a comedy,
Is he Good, is he Wicked? (Est il bon, est il méchant
?), and further revises
Rameau’s Nephew
and
Jacques the Fatalist
.

1778

October: publication of the
First Satire
in the
Literary Correspondence
. November–June 1780: publication in serial form of
Jacques the Fatalist
in the
Literary Correspondence
.

1780

Revises
The Nun
, also serialized in the
Literary Correspondence
, and expands his
Essay on the Reigns of Claudius and Nero (Essai sur les règnes de Claude et de Néron
, 1778), his major political work.

1781

July: reads
Jacques the Fatalist
to his wife and probably makes further additions to the text.

1783

29 October: death of D’Alembert.

1784

22 February: death of Sophie Volland. The news is kept from Diderot, who is recovering from an attack of apoplexy. 15 July: moves to the rue de Richelieu. 31 July: death of Diderot. He is buried (1 August) in the church of Saint-Roch. 9 September: Catherine II sends 1,000 roubles to Mme Diderot.

1785

Friedrich Schiller translates the Mme de la Pommeraye episode of
Jacques the Fatalist
in
Die Rheinische Thalia
. This text is translated back into French by J.-P. Doray de Langrais in 1792 as
Strange Case of a Woman’s Vengeance (Exemple singulier de la vengeance d’une femme
). 5 November: Diderot’s library and manuscripts arrive in St Petersburg.

1792

Jacques the Fatalist
translated into German by Christlob Mylius.

1796

Publication of
The Nun
and
Jacques the Fatalist
.

1805

Goethe publishes his translation of
Rameau’s Nephew
.