Abstract

This slim volume contains a translation of the article Beau from the second volume of Diderot's Encyclopédie, plus a lengthy introduction to Diderot's work and a survey of esthetic theory in eighteenth-century England, France, and Germany as well. The translators do not mention the academic quarrels which plagued Diderot's article until 1952, when Lester G. Crocker resolved them once and for all in favor of Diderot. They also mistakenly attribute to Diderot the article Encyclopédie. These are, however, minor imperfections in a text which serves as a solid introduction to Diderot studies. The translators have summarized many of Diderot's major works and have outlined significant problems in esthetics discussed by Hume, Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Wolff, Lessing, Winckelman, Montesquieu, Du Bos, and, of immediate significance to Diderot, the père Andre and the abbé Batteux. Other features of this book include extensive notes, a good index, a bibliography, and André Billy's compilation of Diderot's works in order of publication.—C. M. R.