[...]... refer to the First Satire Near the end of the work he asks Naigeon to remember him to his friends in Paris, so he is clearly writing from abroad; and he earlier refers to a conversation he had had with the historian and poet Rulhière shortly before his departure for Russia This being the case, it is entirely possible that the First Satire was written in Holland in , and that the Second Satire was... milder satire was tinged with epicureanism Both of Diderot’s Satires begin with epigraphs from the Satires of Horace; and the ‘post-scriptum’ to the First Satire, which is a discussion of certain passages in Horace, seems to be the continuation in print of a debate which Diderot was conducting with his friend Naigeon, a learned Latinist The epigraph of the First Satire is taken from Horace, Satires,... acquired its title First Satire The question of the relationship of the First Satire to the Second is a tricky one If we assume the traditional view that Diderot began Rameau’s Nephew in the early s, then the title Second Satire must represent an addition to the evolving work made after the composition of the First Satire But if we accept Coulet’s more recent thesis that Rameau’s Nephew was composed... Diderot’s philosophical narratives in his history of carnivalesque literature.10 The autograph manuscript of Rameau’s Nephew bears the simple title, in Diderot’s hand, Second Satire The further title, ‘Rameau’s Nephew , is added in another hand, and while one can understand that editors and publishers have always preferred this more racy form (used in every printed edition, from the  German version... Satire usefully reminds us of the shorter and less well-known First Satire Written in , the First Satire was initially published in , in the limited manuscript circulation of the Correspondance littéraire (where it was entitled simply Satire) ; the work was first printed posthumously, in the so-called Naigeon edition of Diderot’s works, in , where for the first time it acquired its title First. .. Jacques the Fatalist, trans and ed David Coward –––– The Nun, trans and ed Russell Goulbourne Lucian, Selected Dialogues, trans and ed C D N Costa Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions, trans Angela Scholar, ed Patrick Coleman Voltaire, Candide and Other Stories, trans and ed Roger Pearson –––– Letters concerning the English Nation, ed Nicholas Cronk xxx RAMEAU’S NEPHEW Second Satire Vertumnis quotquot... the substantial part of the First Satire, and at the same time pave the way for Rameau’s Nephew, Second Satire, in which they recur as a constituent part of the characterization of ‘Him’ Diderot’s interest in these forms of expression goes beyond his liking for a good story; they are central to his philosophy of man and to his attempt to bring together ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic concerns When... opponents of Enlightenment Rameau’s Nephew also, more importantly, addresses and questions some of the fundamental values of the Enlightenment That it does so with such a light touch and so elusively makes its enquiry more, not less, complex Two men sit in a café and talk; they discuss morals and music, and they tell stories The whole exchange is deceptively casual, notwithstanding the extraordinary physical... fascination and their continuing influence The First Satire has left a clear trace in the fiction of Balzac.11 As for the Second Satire, it is extraordinary how so many readers, from Goethe and Hegel to Foucault, have been inspired by Rameau’s Nephew It is a text which, precisely because of its mystery, seems able to inspire different readers to write wholly different texts Thomas Bernhard, in Wittgenstein’s Nephew. .. be called up by studying Diderot and other Enlightenment writers: Diderot’s dialogue provides a 11 See Jean Pommier, ‘Comment Balzac relaie Diderot’, Revue des Sciences Humaines (Apr.–Sept ), – xxiv Introduction structural and philosophical model for Bellow’s novel, and there are evident similarities between the hero Joseph and Rameau’s Nephew. 12 If Diderot’s Satires continue to fascinate, it . Rameau’s Nephew bears the simple title, in Diderot’s hand, Second Satire. The further title, ‘Ram- eau’s Nephew , is added in another hand, and while one can understand that editors and publishers. authentic manuscript. Not least, the Second Satire usefully reminds us of the shorter and less well-known First Satire. Written in , the First Satire was initially published in , in the. 1713–1784. [Neveu de Rameau. English] Rameau’s nephew ; and, First satire / Denis Diderot ; translated by Margaret Mauldon ; with an introduction and notes by Nicholas Cronk. p. cm. –– (Oxford