Lettres à Sophie Volland, 1759–1774 (review)

In comparison with the correspondence of other great French Enlightenment figures, notably Voltaire and Rousseau, that of Diderot has suffered a degree of neglect in recent years. Georges Roth’s eminently scholarly edition (Éditions de Minuit, 1955–70) is still serviceable but needs updating in some respects, not least because a number of letters have come to light since it was first published. The editors of the Hermann edition promised in 1975 to devote volumes xxvii –xxxii to the ‘correspondance générale’ of Diderot, but, as the most recent volume of that edition (xxiv) was issued as long ago as 2004, it would probably be unwise to hold one’s breath until those that have not yet appeared see the light of day. Diderot’s letters to Sophie Volland have several times been published separately: in their entirety by André Babelon in 1930 (Gallimard) and by Yves Florenne in 1965 (Club français du livre), and as a selection by Jean Varloot in 1984 (Gallimard). Of these, the first two are now somewhat antiquated, and the third, like any selection, is partial in both senses of the word. This new complete edition by Marc Buffat and Odile Richard-Pauchet is therefore both timely and welcome. The editors have already published several notable studies of the Diderot–Volland correspondence, and their edition puts their joint expertise to good use. On the whole, the annotations appended to each letter are informative and judicious; without entirely replacing Roth, they provide enough information for the general reader to understand the references to what are now, in many cases, obscure personalities and incidents. Some of the principal features of the letters are lucidly expounded in the introduction, notably the fact that they are the closest we come to having a diary kept by Diderot as he recounts his day-to-day activities and thoughts; the editors also rightly point out that the correspondence is sometimes marred by an unattractive, Swann-like jealousy on his part. At the same time, one might not readily accept that ‘Diderot se voi[t] perpétuellement de l’extérieur’ (p. 16), since it would be hard to find anything more direct, revealing, and personal in pre-Revolutionary writing outside the pages of contemporary novels or the Confessions of Rousseau. Nor is it entirely true that the letters ‘contiennent en germe toutes les œuvres à venir de Diderot’ (p. 668), since his political ideas, especially those expounded in the Histoire des deux Indes, hardly figure in his letters to Sophie. At the purely editorial level, the lengthy explanation of the treatment of orthography and punctuation (p. 22) is remarkably opaque and leaves one neither wiser nor better informed. Finally, while it is a good idea to have included biographical notices of the families of Diderot and Sophie, and notes on their milieu and associates, one feels less grateful for a genealogical tree of the Volland family and a map of the Palais-Royal district in the eighteenth century (pp. 687–88); in each case, the accompanying text cannot easily be read without the help of a powerful magnifying glass.