April 10, 2019
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess , https://www.openedition.org/12554
Berenika Palus, « Les fonctions du regard et du détail visuel dans la prose littéraire de Denis Diderot », Presses universitaires de Rennes, ID : 10.4000/books.pur.52098
The evolution of Diderot’s esthetic ideas manifests itself, amongst other ways, through the changing role played by visual details and gaze in his prose. This modification as to the visual dimensions is related to changes in the author’s attitude towards the novelistic realism as well as in his choice of literary forms, firstly on the narrative and the generic level. In Diderot’s early prose, the use of detail aims to identify the reader with the protagonists. Subsequently, due to a pluralization of gazes, it contributes to an objectivation of perception modalities. Finally, it becomes an important element in breaking the novelistic illusion.