From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the French novel by
Denis Diderot. For others uses, see
La Religieuse.
La Religieuse (The
Nun) is an 18th century French novel, by Denis Diderot. Completed in c. 1780,
the work, however, wasn't published until 1796, after his death. In
English it is called The Nun, or Memoirs of a Nun
in Francis Birrell's translation.
The novel was supposedly begun originally not as a work for
literary consumption but as an elaborate practical joke aimed at
luring the Marquis de Croismare, a companion of Diderot's, back to
Paris. The novel is told in a series of letters purporting to be
from a nun, Suzanne, who implores the Marquis to help her in
renouncing her vows, and describes her intolerable life in the
convent.
Diderot later revised the letters into a novel and publicly
revealed his role in the ruse. The Marquis is said to have laughed
at the revelation.
La Religieuse was adapted several times for the cinema, most notably in 1966 as La
Religieuse (titled The Nun in USA) by Jacques
Rivette, starring Anna Karina and Liselotte Pulver.
Further
reading
- Abrams, Barbara Lise. (2009). Le Bizarre and Le
Décousu in the Novels and Theoretical Works of Denis Diderot:
How the Idea of Marginality Originated in Eighteenth-Century
France. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN
978-0-7734-4663-2
- Clark, Andrew Herrick. (2008). Diderot’s Part.
Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN
978-0-7546-5438-4
- Crouse, Gale. (Spring 1980). "Diderot's La
Religieuse". Explicator 38.3, 1–2.
- Mourão, Manuela. (Autumn 2001). "The Compromise of Enlightened
Rationalism in Diderot's La Religieuse". Romance
Quarterly 48.4, 223–239.
- Mylne, Vivienne. (1981). Diderot, La religieuse.
London: Grant & Cutler. ISBN 0729301060
- Vila, Anne C. (September 1990). "Sensible Diagnostics in
Diderot's La Religieuse." MLN 105.4,
774–800.
- Werner, Stephen. (2000). The Comic Diderot: A Reading of
the Fictions. Birmingham, Ala.: Summa Publications. ISBN
9781883479312
See also
External
links
- The Nun (English
translation) at Google Books
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