Scan barcode
A review by helgamharb
Religieuse by Diderot, Denis Diderot
3.0
3.5
It all began with a prank.
In 1758, out of sympathy and goodwill, Diderot’s friend Marquis de Croismare used his influence in favor of Marguerite Delamarre, a nun in the convent of Longchamp in Paris to help her in her appeal to be dispensed from her vows, as she had been forced by her parents to take the veil.
Their communication was through letters and eventually the case was lost, the nun was forced to remain a nun for the rest of her miserable life and the Marquis, disappointed and frustrated left Paris and his companions.
To lure his longtime friend back to Paris, Diderot began writing letters of appeal to the Marquis, pretending to be Suzanne Simonin, another distraught nun who has been forced to join the religious order against her will.
And the Marquis fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
The practical joke got out of hand when the Marquis demanded to meet the nun and there was no way for Diderot to end the predicament than to kill her off.
The Marquis received a letter informing him of the unfortunate nun’s demise.
Years later, when Diderot decided to publish the letters, there was no other way for him but to reveal the truth to the Marquis, who seemingly took it well, considering the deceased nun hadn’t existed at all.
To add to the fun, in the book Diderot included Marquis’s real name and identity as the receiver of the nun’s letters.
I ask for nothing, hope for nothing, object to nothing, my only incentive to live is gone. If only I could be sure that God would change me, and that the qualities necessary for the religious life would replace the hope of leaving it which I have now lost! But it cannot be, and this nun’s habit has attached itself to my skin and bones, and irks me all the more. Oh what a fate! To be a nun forever and feel that one can never be anything but a bad one! To spend one’s whole life battering one’s head against prison bars!
This book is a series of letters written by Suzanne Simonin to the Marquis, recounting her life story, why has she ended up in a convent and the difficulties she has endured during her stay.
This was a time when the aristocracy and the Catholic Church were being scrutinized and criticized for corruption. France was on the brink of revolution.
Therefore we should make allowances for the most likely Atheist Diderot's too exaggerated description of events and some of the nuns’ and priests’ atrocious behavior.
It all began with a prank.
In 1758, out of sympathy and goodwill, Diderot’s friend Marquis de Croismare used his influence in favor of Marguerite Delamarre, a nun in the convent of Longchamp in Paris to help her in her appeal to be dispensed from her vows, as she had been forced by her parents to take the veil.
Their communication was through letters and eventually the case was lost, the nun was forced to remain a nun for the rest of her miserable life and the Marquis, disappointed and frustrated left Paris and his companions.
To lure his longtime friend back to Paris, Diderot began writing letters of appeal to the Marquis, pretending to be Suzanne Simonin, another distraught nun who has been forced to join the religious order against her will.
And the Marquis fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
The practical joke got out of hand when the Marquis demanded to meet the nun and there was no way for Diderot to end the predicament than to kill her off.
The Marquis received a letter informing him of the unfortunate nun’s demise.
Years later, when Diderot decided to publish the letters, there was no other way for him but to reveal the truth to the Marquis, who seemingly took it well, considering the deceased nun hadn’t existed at all.
To add to the fun, in the book Diderot included Marquis’s real name and identity as the receiver of the nun’s letters.
I ask for nothing, hope for nothing, object to nothing, my only incentive to live is gone. If only I could be sure that God would change me, and that the qualities necessary for the religious life would replace the hope of leaving it which I have now lost! But it cannot be, and this nun’s habit has attached itself to my skin and bones, and irks me all the more. Oh what a fate! To be a nun forever and feel that one can never be anything but a bad one! To spend one’s whole life battering one’s head against prison bars!
This book is a series of letters written by Suzanne Simonin to the Marquis, recounting her life story, why has she ended up in a convent and the difficulties she has endured during her stay.
This was a time when the aristocracy and the Catholic Church were being scrutinized and criticized for corruption. France was on the brink of revolution.
Therefore we should make allowances for the most likely Atheist Diderot's too exaggerated description of events and some of the nuns’ and priests’ atrocious behavior.