The Perception of Love in Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Diderot Cover Image

Kaderci Jacques Ile Efendisi’nde Diderot’nun Gözünden Kadinlar Ve Aşk Algisi
The Perception of Love in Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Diderot

Author(s): Damla Şıkel, Jale Erlat
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Novel, 18th Century
Published by: Uluslararası Kıbrıs Üniversitesi
Keywords: Diderot; Jacques the Fatalist and his Master; fiction; theme; the perception of love;

Summary/Abstract: The dialogue novel Jacques the Fatalist and his Master appear as one of his major works Diderot’s represents the ideas of Diderot. The novel was first published by Grimm ‘s Correspondance Litteraire a serialized literary work between the years 1778-1780; then German edition of the book (translated by Schiller) appeared in 1792. It was not until 1796 that Jacques the Fatalist and his Master was published in its home country. The novel seems to be created upon a polyphonic structure: while constant storytelling’s of the characters of the novel lead to create a fiction within the fiction, the dialogue form makes the expression rather convenient for the rapid transitions between different topics and areas. Through its sophisticated structure and the lack of a consistency of the storytelling, Jacques the Fatalist and his Master seems to appear as an eclectic fiction. Nevertheless, if the reader takes into consideration the worldview of the writer that constitutes the essence of this literary work, the so-called randomness or arbitrariness of the fiction becomes highly consistent with the final thematic statement of Diderot. In other words, the concept of fatalism that describes the novel is perceived as the direct result of the biological and social conditions that influences the existence of the individual, rather than a metaphysical notion. The concept of “fatalism “ relate the different events and narratives and becomes the secret bond between the eclectic stories. At this point the “love” motif seems to stand at the heart of the notion of fatalism and as a structural and thematic element of the novel.

  • Issue Year: 21/2015
  • Issue No: 81
  • Page Range: 205-214
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Turkish