Caroline Warman, Zeitlyn Fellow and Tutor in French at Jesus College, and Professor of French Literature and Thought at the University of Oxford, has published a book on the eighteenth-century French polymath Denis Diderot and his theories about mind and matter.

‘The Atheist’s Bible: Diderot’s ‘Éléments de physiologie’ (Open Book Publishers 2020) explores the fascinating history of one of Diderot’s most significant but little known works and its impact on the dissemination of anti-religious materialist arguments through the French Revolution, and on the country’s academic institutions. The book is accompanied by a digital edition of a biographical work by his disciple, Jacques-André Naigeon.

 

Caroline has been working on the book for the past twelve years. She says, “I first became aware of Diderot as an important writer as an undergraduate because the lecturer used to leave dramatic pauses in her exposition for us to contemplate how amazing he was. At the time though, I didn’t really connect to his work very much, and it wasn’t until much later, after having done a doctorate, that I came to realise what an endlessly interesting writer he was.”

She’s inspired by how Diderot’s work never only says one thing, explaining, “Everything he says contains the seeds of something else. And his work on art connects up to his work on blindness, which connects up to his work on physiology, which connects back to the art, which then leaps into fiction, and on it goes.”

She adds, “I love teaching Diderot to first years newly arrived in Oxford, to second-years and finalists specialising in his work, and to coming back to it with postgrads. He has something interesting for everyone I think. I probably also leave dramatic pauses in my lectures now.”

 

Caroline has been involved in a number of co-translations of Diderot’s work: La Religieuse (with Finn Fordham and Phoebe von Held), adapted for the stage and performed at the Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, 2003; Rêve de d’Alembert (again with Phoebe von Held, 2005); and Rameau’s Nephew with Kate Tunstall, for Marian Hobson’s new edition (Open Book Publishers, 2014; 2nd edition 2016). She also featured on BBC R4’s In Our Time to discuss ‘The Encyclopédie’ and ‘Materialism’, and with Kate Tunstall, co-wrote and co-presented four short programmes on Diderot as part of The Essay: Enlightenment Voices on BBC Radio 3. Next, she is planning to translate Diderot’s Eléments de physiologie.

To mark the launch of The Atheist’s Bible, Caroline has recorded an interview with Open Book Publishers. You can watch the interview here and find out more about Caroline’s research here.

Purchase the book here and read the web brief that accompanies the book here.