- Lot 40

Lot n° 40
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- Lot 40
DIDEROT Denis [Langres, 1713 - Paris, 1784], French writer. Autograph manuscript Satire against luxury in the manner of Persia. [1767]; 4 1/2 pages in-4° corrections; some stains. The Satire against luxury, which Diderot thought for a while of including in the Salon of 1767, as the Naigeon edition and the copy of this Salon preserved in the castle of Coppet show, does not appear in the autograph manuscript, as it has come down to us. Let us note that the themes of luxury, of artists corrupted by gold, run through the Salon of 1767, the Satire against luxury in the manner of Persia, the Regrets on my old dressing gown, the Salon of 1769 (this corruption explains, according to him, the poverty of this last Salon). See our article : " Diderot, les Salons de 1767, de 1769 et la question du luxe ", Diderot Studies XXIX (2003), 65-82 by JC Rebejkow. "Satire against luxury in the manner of Persia You cast such a sorrowful eye on the various societies of the human race that I know of little more than a means of satisfying you; it is to bring back the golden age. You are mistaken. A life spent sighing at the feet of a shepherdess is not at all what I want. I want man to work. I want him to suffer. Under a state of nature that would meet his every wish, where the branch would bend to bring the fruit to his hand, he would be lazy; and, if the poets don't like it, lazy is bad. And then, rivers of honey and milk! Milk doesn't suit bilious people like me, and honey makes me weak. So strip off your clothes; follow Jean-Jacques' advice, and make yourself wild. There, at least, there is no inequality other than that which it has pleased Nature to place between her children.
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