The Nun by Denis Diderot (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of The Nun by Denis Diderot. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including religious fanaticism, hypocrisy and freedom. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 48-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Denis Diderot
• Presentation of The Nun
• Summary of The Nun
• Character study
  • Suzanne Simenon
  • Suzanne’s mother
  • Mother Sainte Christine
  • Sister Sainte Ursule
  • Madame ***
  • Father Lemoine
  • The Marquis de Croismare
• Analysis of The Nun
  • A novel in the form of memoirs
  • Approaches to writing during the Enlightenment
  • Criticism of religion

About The Nun

The Nun tells the story of an innocent young woman, Suzanne Simenon, who is sent to a convent against her will to expiate her mother’s guilt over an extramarital affair. By describing the appalling physical and emotional abuse suffered by the young girl, Diderot delivers a fierce polemic against the power the Church wielded over individuals in 18^th-century France and attacks the hypocrisy and cruelty of these ostensibly devout women.

About Denis Diderot

The French writer, philosopher and encyclopaedia editor Denis Diderot was one of the leading figures of the Enlightenment in the 18^th century. Along with contemporaries such as Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu, he argued passionately in favor of reason, tolerance and freedom, in opposition to obscurantism, despotism and fanaticism. His magnum opus is his Encyclopaedia, compiled in collaboration with the celebrated polymath d’Alembert, which aimed to bring together all the knowledge of their time and pass it on to future generations.