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meganreads5's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
msand3's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Rameau’s Nephew is a scathing satirical exposé of a “great man” -- reminding me of Fielding’s [b:Jonathan Wild|31202|Jonathan Wild|Henry Fielding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1350185162s/31202.jpg|315073], an earlier ironic celebration of a “great man” whose criminality was a political shot at Robert Walpole. Diderot’s treatment of such a man takes the form of a dialogue between a fictionalized version of himself and the title character, who might or might not be Diderot’s dark doppelgänger.
I read a few different scholarly introductions to get a better feel for Diderot’s work, and all of them mentioned the unanswered questions that define not only its publication but also its various interpretations. I’d like to think that Diderot was using a dialogue with his own personal Shadow side as a critique of larger societal issues, including those that he was struggling against in attempts to publish his work in the face of censorship. Rameau’s nephew (or “HIM,” as the text has it) is the side of us that does allow for true greatness (in moderation), but at the same time dooms us to a hubristic downfall if left to run amok, which is so often the case. He is a kind of necessary fool that we all have within us. The difficulty is trying to find a balance so as not to let HIM run roughshod over our lives. In that sense, he is an “educator” (although not in the sense HE understands the term!) in that we can learn from him, in part, by avoiding his own personal pitfalls, which are really just mirrored magnifications of our own personal and societal foibles.
I read a few different scholarly introductions to get a better feel for Diderot’s work, and all of them mentioned the unanswered questions that define not only its publication but also its various interpretations. I’d like to think that Diderot was using a dialogue with his own personal Shadow side as a critique of larger societal issues, including those that he was struggling against in attempts to publish his work in the face of censorship. Rameau’s nephew (or “HIM,” as the text has it) is the side of us that does allow for true greatness (in moderation), but at the same time dooms us to a hubristic downfall if left to run amok, which is so often the case. He is a kind of necessary fool that we all have within us. The difficulty is trying to find a balance so as not to let HIM run roughshod over our lives. In that sense, he is an “educator” (although not in the sense HE understands the term!) in that we can learn from him, in part, by avoiding his own personal pitfalls, which are really just mirrored magnifications of our own personal and societal foibles.
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