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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses A study of the evolution of the text of diderot's jacques le fataliste Foster, Robert Arthur How to cite: Foster, Robert Arthur (1975) A study of the evolution of the text of diderot's jacques le fataliste, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9901/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Robert Arthur Foster A Study of the Evolution of the Text of Diderot's Jacques le fataliste Thesis submitted for the Degree of Master of Arts, September 1975. The aim of the present thesis is twofold: firstly, to supplement existing textual criticism of Jacques le fataliste by providing a more detailed study than has. heretofore been attempted of the development of the text, and secondly to analyse what new light such a study may shed on some of the major areas of critical debate surroimding the • novel. The basis of the study is the text of Jacques given in the Correspondance litteraire. in which it was serialised between Nov. 1778 and-June I78O, with two sets of addenda appearing in the July I78O and April 1786 issues respectively. An attempt is made to state which of the addenda indeed comprised new material incorporated after the completion of an earlier text and which merely represent restitution of suppressed material. Further, a study is made of the literary mechanisms employed in the process of addition and of the changes in the novel's substance brought about by the new material. The 1778-80 text is then studied in its turn in an attempt to trace the same processes of addition at work at an earlier date, so that a fuller picture may be obtained of the evolution of Jacques le fataliste from its initial conception to completion. The findings of this textual study are then applied in turn to the critical issues most affected by them. These are: the role of the narrator/"author"/ "editor", and the question of literary satire; the position of Diderot with regard to the philosophy of "fatalism"; the relationship betvy-een the principal and subsidiary narratives; and the sources and importance of the humour of the work. In conclusion it is demonstrated that the changing character of the novel may be seen to correspond to a number of widely differing experiments in literature. A Study of the Evolution of the Text of Diderot's Jacques le fataliste by Robert Arthur Foster Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in French University of Durham September 1975 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. ACICNO'i'TLEDGEMENTS My thanks are due to the staff of three libraries: the Laniesbibliothek of Gotha for kindly providing me vrith microfilm of the manuscript upon which the present thesis is based; the University of Durham Library for obtaining this microfilm and for rendering diverse assistance; and the Bibliotheque Nationale for permitting me to use their extensive research facilities. I should also like to offer my heartfelt thanks to.my supervisor, Dr. G.E. Rodmell, my typist, Mrs. P.E. Brooksbank and my wife, Elizabeth, for the great help which they have all provided in the preparation of this study. NOTE The manuscript source on which the present thesis is based is the Gotha copy of the Correspondance litteraire housed in the Landesbibliothek, Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha (cotes B 1138 A - Z and 1279 - 1280, 27 vols., 1754 - 1813). Quotations from this source, however, have been confined to cases where a comparison was necessitated between the manuscript and printed editions of Jacques le fataliste. In all other cases, quotations both of Jacques and of Diderot's other works are taken from the Oeuvres completes, ed« J. Assezat and M. Tourneux, Paris, Gamier, 1875 - 77, 20 vols. Orthography and punctuation are as given by Assezat and Tourneux, with the exceptions that, in the case of Jacques le fataliste, the names of speakers have been brought down to the line of the speech, and, in one or two instances, obvious printing errors have been corrected. CONTENTS Page No. Xn'tlr0dUCt:l0n DOO eoo .oo eoe la Chapter I "Jacques" in The "Correspondance Litteraire" 24« Chapter II A New Approach to "Jacques"... 64. Chapter III The Structure of the 1778-80 TGX't ooo eeo DOO eeo 93o Chapter IV The "Author" and his "History" 126. Chapter V The "Author" and "Fatalism".., 165. Chapter VI The "Subsidiary" Narratives .. 195. Chapter VII Humour in "Jacques" 9 226. Conclusion 243. Bibliography 257. 1. INTRODUCTION It is perhaps inevitable that, in a period of renewed interest in Denis Diderot, Jacques le fataliste et son maitre, at once the most complex and the most enigmatic of the Encyclopediste' s fictional ^"''^ works, should have been the recipient of a great deal of scholarly attention. Despite a wealth of interpretative criticism, however, little real attempt has been made to analyse the history of the work, or even to apply what little is knovm I for certain about that history to a study of the author's intentions. This neglect is both surprising and unfortunate. It will be the aim of the present thesis to throw some new light on certain important aspects of the creation of Jacques, and to consider what significance a clearer view of the development of the work may have for certain key aspects of its interpretation. (l) The word is used guardedly but deliberately, In Jacques le fataliste, as elsewhere in Diderot's vrorks, the line between fiction and fact - or between "history" and "romance", narrative and treatise, casual conversation and philosophical dialogue - may be impossible to drav;-, and a variety of alternatives to the definition "roman" may suggest themselves. But the fact remains that this work (like La Religieuse and certain of the contes) is dressed very much like a piece of con• temporary fiction. Moreover, the persistence with which the author returns to the concept of the novel - even if it is merely to state that Jacques le fataliste is "not a novel" - must surely indicate his concern that we should view Jacques (whatever kind of work it may be intended to be) at least in terms of the novel. It is not therefore likely to be at variance with Diderot'is wishes that we should apply to Jacques (if perhaps only provisionally) the appellation "novel" or "roman". Indeed, the paradox (a novel that is not a novel) can only really be approached from this point of view, and by the avoidance of the potential bias inherent in more interpretative nomenclature. It is to be hoped that the present thesis will go some way towards explaining the paradox. In the meantime the term "novel" will be employed unashamedly. Before proceeding to detail the precise methodology of this study, it would seem appropriate to provide a summary of textual criticism of Jacques le fataliste published to date together with an analysis of the deficiencies of that criticism. Modern research on Jacques le fataliste may best be dated from 1959* when Jack Undank ^ (2) and Paul Verniere independently published articles based, wholly or in part, on the discovery of a letter from Henri Meister to Bodmer. This letter, dated 12th September 1771» concerns Pierre Meister's activities in Paris and contains the following remark: "Diderot n'a pas encore commence son traite De vita bona et beata, mais il a fait un conte charmant, Jacques le fataliste. L'auteur en a lu a notre homme pendant deux heures."^3) This discovery inevitably caused a certain Eunount of fresh speculation, since almost all critics had previously agreed in ascribing the composition of Jacques to the years 1772-7^t some favouring the earlier part of this time-span, some- the later, but all tending to see November 4th, 1771, the date of the performance of Goldoni's Bourru bienfaisant, as the terminus a quo - and an extreme one at that. The only other direct evidence previously in existence, and used by Assezat in his attempts to date the work (as Undank points out ), was a passage from Mme de (1) Jack Undank, "A New Date for Jacques le Fataliste", Modern Language Notes, LXXIV, May 1959, PP.433-57. (2) Paul Verniere, "Diderot et 1'invention litteraire, a propos de Jacques le Fataliste", Revue d'Histoire litteraire de la France, 59, avril-juin 1959, pp.153-167. (3) Lettres inedites de Mme de Stael a Meister, Paris, Hachette, 1903, p.24, quoted by Verniere (p.153) and Undank (p.436). (4) Undank, op.cit., pp.433-34. Vandeul's Memoires concerning her father's literary activities and reading as follows: "Depuis son retour (from Russia, 1774) il s'est occupe de divers petits ouvrages qu'il n'a point imprimes.
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