In 1758 Diderot's friend the Marquis de Croismare became interested in the cause
celebre of a nun who was appealing to be allowed to leave a Paris convent. Less
than a year later, in an affectionate attempt to trick his friend, Diderot crea
ted this masterpiece a fictitious set of desperate and pleading letters to the M
arquis from a teenage girl forced into the nunnery because she is illegitimate.
In these letters, the impressionable and innocent Suzanne Simonin describes the
cruelty and abuse she has suffered in an institution poisoned by vicious gossip,
intrigues, persecutions and deviance.
Considered too subversive during Dider
ot's lifetime, The Nun first appeared in print in 1796 following the Revolution.
Part gripping novel, part licentious portrayal of sexual fervour and part damni
ng attack on oppressive religious institutions, it remains one of the most utter
ly original works of the many eighteenth-century.
