Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely -- Andrew S. Curran

In this cerebral biography of Le Philosophe, Denis Diderot, Andrew S. Curran deftly captures the intellectual climate of the Ancien Regime and brings the encyclopaedist’s humor, intelligence and creativity to life. Curran argues Diderot was the pre-modern postmodernist par excellence, tackling issues of truth, subjectivity, sexuality, atheism, slavery, democracy and even hyperlinking. As Diderot was ever oriented towards posterity, one cannot but help wonder what he would think of his portrayal as carefree genius with a penchant for philandering, pondering and postulating. Organized thematically, Curran’s book has a certain logic even if it lacks a certain beauty, not entirely unlike an encyclopedia.