Falar como Diderot

The article examines the reception of Diderot’s Le neveu de Rameau in the 19th century, particularly in Marx and the Goncourt brothers, so as to show how, in the view of these authors, Diderot’s “satire”brought about the emergence of a spoken prose that inaugurated a new moment in French literature. Diderot gave philosophical prominence to the typical mechanisms of conversation, such as reflection in dialogue, the sequence of ideas, the paths of oral communication, the relationship between common sense and delirium, logic and irrationality.