Rameaus Nephew

society, culture, philosophy, arts, books · EN

Rameaus Nephew, or the Second Satire (French Le Neveu de Rameau ou La Satire seconde), is a thought-provoking and imaginary philosophical dialogue penned by Denis Diderot, likely between 1761 and 1772. Although initially published in German translation by Goethe in 1805, the original French manuscript has since vanished. The German version was later translated back into French by de Saur and Saint-Geniès, appearing in 1821. It wasnt until 1823 that the first published edition based on the original French manuscript was released in the Brière edition of Diderots works. Modern editions draw from the complete manuscript discovered in 1890 by Georges Monval, a librarian at the Comédie-Française, while he was browsing a second-hand bookshop in Paris. Monval published this edition in 1891, and the manuscript was eventually acquired by the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. The reasons behind Diderots decision not to publish it during his lifetime remain speculative, but its suggested that