Reading Text and Image in the Eighteenth Century: Diderot and the Tableau (Level 5)
Classes
Wednesday 15 January - Wednesday 26 March 2025, 7.30pm-9pm
10 sessions - Check class timetable
Overview
On this Reading Text and Image in the Eighteenth Century short course we focus on the writings of the celebrated Enlightenment philosophe Denis Diderot, who explored the complexities of the relationship between verbal and visual forms in highly original ways. We will explore Diderot’s experimental theories of the tableau and his attempts to put these into practice in various types of fictional, educational and artistic context, including the theatre, the novel and art criticism.
The power of the image is a central preoccupation in eighteenth-century philosophy. We will consider how the relationship between word and image is a key topic in the aesthetic thought of the period and how the impact of images on human sensibility (as understood at the time) was foregrounded in a range of epistemological, moral and medical debates.
The texts we focus on vary from year to year, but the following is a sample of some of the texts we may be studying:
- Le Fils naturel and Entretiens sur ‘Le Fils naturel’
- Le Père de famille
- De la poésie dramatique
- Éloge de Richardson
- La Religieuse
- Extracts from Diderot’s Salons (e.g. de 1759, 1761, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1769)
- Extracts from the Encyclopédie
If you are interested in the literature and culture of eighteenth-century France and in text/image relations, then this short course will be of great interest. If you have already studied our Culture and Image short course, it will build on your knowledge and develop your thinking on visual culture further.
-
Entry requirements
Entry requirements
You do not need to have previous knowledge of eighteenth-century literature to study this short course, but some experience of literary study would be desirable.
As part of the enrolment process, you may be required to submit a copy of a suitable form of ID.
International students who wish to come to the UK to study a short course can apply for a Visitor visa. Please note that it is not possible to obtain a Student visa to study a short course.
This short course has no prerequisites.
As part of the enrolment process, you may be required to submit a copy of a suitable form of ID.
International students who wish to come to the UK to study a short course can apply for a Visitor visa. Please note that it is not possible to obtain a Student visa to study a short course.
-
How to apply
How to apply
You register directly onto the classes you would like to take. Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis - so apply early. If you wish to take more than one short course, you can select each one separately and then register onto them together via our online application portal. There is usually no formal selection process, although some modules may have prerequisites and/or other requirements, which will be specified where relevant.