Jacques the fatalist and his master

Description:

"Jacques the Fatalist is Diderot's answer to the problem of existence. If human beings are determined by their genes and their environment, how can they claim to be free to want or do anything? Where are Jacques and his Master going? Are they simply occupying space, living mechanically until they die, believing erroneously that they are in charge of their Destiny? Diderot intervenes to cheat our expectations of what fiction should be and do, and behaves like a provocative, ironic, and unfailingly entertaining master of revels which finally show why Fate is not to be equated with doom." "In the introduction to this new translation, David Coward explains the philosophical basis of Diderot's fascination with Fate and shows why Jacques the Fatalist pioneers techniques of action which, two centuries on, novelists still regard as experimental."--Jacket.

subjects: Simone LeCointre,  Ontology in fiction,  Critique et interprétation,  Fiction,  Fate and fatalism,  Free will and determinism in fiction,  Fate and fatalism in fiction,  Ontology,  Diderot, Denis, 1713-1781. Jacques le fataliste et son maitre,  Free will and determinism,  Fiction, general,  Continental european fiction (fictional works by one author),  Diderot, Denis, 1713-1781,  Pq1979.a65 e5 1986,  843/.5,  Free will and determinism--fiction,  Fate and fatalism--fiction,  Pq1979.a65 e5 1999,  18.25,  French fiction,  Literary styles & movements - fiction

People: Denis Diderot (1713-1784)