La vieillesse de Diderot

Abstract

Franco Venturi : Diderot' s Old Age. In the 1770s Diderot was convinced that France was corrupt and declining and he turned to Russia in the hope, encouraged by the legislative commission, of seeing his dream of liberty realised. But this hope was soon dashed and his last years were still haunted by the nightmare of despotism. His Essai sur Sénèque, behind the classical model, is a reaction against the revived danger of despotism in modern Europe, while Raynal's Histoire des deux Indes, inspired by Diderot, is mainly a reflection of the world in the 1770s. In particular, with Diderot's help, Raynal placed the American Revolution at the heart of his work; it became an example for all colonies and the sign of a profound change in the relations between the continents. Diderot was greatly affected by Raynal's condemnation, and in his defence of him, he called Raynal a new type of historian, of the type that inspires Brutuses.