Voltaire and Rousseau in Diderot’s Letters

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present themes of Diderot’s letters sent to Voltaire and Rousseau. The main research corpus includes letters from the fifth vol- ume of Diderot’s selected works (Correspondance, 1997), edited by Laurent Versini, the French expert for the 18th century. Today we have only five letters sent to Rousseau in 1757, and seven to Voltaire, the first from 1749, and the last from 1773. In addition, the letters about Rousseau and Voltaire which Diderot sent to other addressees will also be considered in this analysis. Apart from the personal correspondence, an instructive insight will also be given by referring to Diderot’s other writings, in which the author, directly or indirectly, mentions Voltaire and Rousseau. While interpreting that in this article, a closer and more precise definition of professional, collegial and/or friendly relations among the three famous intellectuals of the French Enlightenment, will be discovered.