Memoirs of a nun (La religieuse) (Masterpieces of world literature)
by G. Norman Laidlaw
Category: Literary Criticism

"This cleverly conceived book relates Denis Diderot and Andre Gide to each other as well as to their separate centuries ... Using a binocular approach similar to the double-spotlight technique of the theater, Professor Laidlaw juxtaposes the lives, works, and philosophies of the two French writers. Constant questioning, agnosticism to the deathbed, and voluminous literary output characterize both. Their catholic interests -- in science, in poetry and drama, in Russian ways as well as French behavior -- are similar. [Laidlaw] discusses their common concern with the dilemma of morality and sincerity, their fascination with literal or figurative blindness, their attitudes toward death, their strong sense of paradox, and the delight and inspiration they both drew from foolishness"--