Suzanne's 'cri animal': Aural and Musical Imagery in Diderot's La Religieuse

Abstract

Diderot's indebtedness to John Locke's theory of the senses has long provided scholars with a sound extra-literary basis for studies of the sensual imagery in his fiction. While Diderot examined each of the senses, he was primarily interested in vision, a fact which helps explain the critical evaluation of visual imagery in many of his works and particularly in the subject of this study, La Religieuse,. In his Lettre sur les aveugles (1749) and Lettre sur les sourds et muets (1751), Diderot concentrated on practical applications of Locke's ideas by investigating test cases of the sensory impaired in order to assess normal sensory development. Both of these essays devoted considerable attention to the significance of aural sensitivity; the Lettre sur les sourds et muets laid the foundation for his aesthetic and musical theories, developing hearing as the link between music and literature.