Denis Diderot, Jacques le Fataliste et son Maître [Jacques the Fatalist and his Master]

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 1796

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

Like many of Diderot's (q.v.) writings,

Jacques le fataliste et son maître

(1796) had a curious history. He probably started writing it in the late 1760s, prompted by the discussion of fatalism by Corporal Trim in Book VIII of Sterne's

Tristram Shandy

, a copy of which was sent to his friend D'Holbach by David Garrick in 1765.

The first clue to the composition of

Jacques

dates from September 1771, when Diderot apparently read an early version of it to a friend. It was completed over the next few years; between 1778 and 1780, instalments appeared in the

Correspondance littéraire,

a manuscript newsletter edited by his friend Melchior Grimm. Additions appeared in the

in July 1780 and a substantial final set was included posthumously in the issue for April 1786. Thus, Diderot worked…

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.

1993 words

Citation: Adams, David J.. "Jacques le Fataliste et son Maître". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4367, accessed 24 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Denis Diderot, Jacques le Fataliste et son Maître [Jacques the Fatalist and his Master]

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback