[.ca] Jacques le fataliste (ISBN 2020190397)

An entertaining insight into 18th C philosophical issues:
Actually a very modern book, despite being a few hundred years old. Diderot's method of narration keep you on your toes, and you learn to expect the unexpected. The author challenges the 'rules' of narration, and even reserves the right to rewind and change his mind! All of which is very relevant in book about fatalism, the belief that everything that happens to us is pre-ordained, or as Jacques says, written in the great scroll in the sky. And indeed, for characters in a novel like Jacques and his master, the events that befall them are indeed pre-ordained and written in the 'great scroll' that is the novel... no matter how hard the narrator tries to give an illusion of freewill..! A very easy going read, by the master of French 18th Century literature. If you enjoy it you should also try the Voyage de Bougainville and Lettres sur les Aveugles.