Charles Nodier lecteur de Diderot

Roland Mortier : Charles Nodier' s Reading of Diderot. The publication in 1830 of the first volume of Paulin's edition, and the reaction of Sainte-Beuve and Nodier, mark the beginning of Diderot's rehabilitation in a period when he was officially decried. In a long passage which is reproduced here, Nodier, basing his remarks only on the texts known before 1830, is particularly favourable towards the philosopher, whose visionary style and radicalism he admires. His is a romantic interpretation, in which Diderot is the representative of an age of crisis and of the people. It is thus less the content of his philosophy which interests Nodier than his style, which makes him the father of modern prose.