Rameau's Nephew
Emma Wawrzynowicz
Professor Abrams
Enlightened Insanity
September 16, 2014
The Idea of Being ‘Strange and Bipolar’
What does it mean to be a stranger to oneself? Diderot characterizes the meaning of this strangeness through the character he creates known as Rameau’s Nephew. In Rameau's Nephew, the eccentric and foolish nephew of the great composer Jean-Philippe Rameau meets Diderot by chance, and the two embark on a hilarious consideration of society, music, literature, politics, morality and philosophy. Through Rameau’s Nephew’s intellect, actions, and appearance one can conclude that he is in fact the idea of what it means to be strange.
The meaning of what it means to be a stranger, is a foreigner, and a person or thing that is unknown or with whom one is unacquainted(“Stranger” par. 1). A stranger can be a person who comes to a place that one has never been to, one who does not know anyone. In Rameau’s Nephew, the Nephew is the strange one, the outcast.
When Diderot describes Rameau’s Nephew, he does so in a way of describing an outcast. Diderot states, “Nothing is less like him than himself. At times he is thin and gaunt like somebody at the last stages of consumption; [..] A month later, he is sleek and plump as if he had never left some millionaire’s table”(Diderot, 34). One day Rameau appears as a homeless person,and the next he looks prosperous and well off. If people would see him on the street one day, and then again on the next, they would not recognize him. He would appear different if he did not fit in with the norm, and if he did, people would ask why they never see him around. As his discussion continues with Diderot, he tends to act out as he speaks. Diderot states that he “began coughing loud enough shake the cafe windows and throw the chess players off their game”(Diderot, 73). Again to gain attention because he is a stranger in all his ways, the Nephew acts out. His appearance displays the strangeness of his personality.
In
Professor Abrams
Enlightened Insanity
September 16, 2014
The Idea of Being ‘Strange and Bipolar’
What does it mean to be a stranger to oneself? Diderot characterizes the meaning of this strangeness through the character he creates known as Rameau’s Nephew. In Rameau's Nephew, the eccentric and foolish nephew of the great composer Jean-Philippe Rameau meets Diderot by chance, and the two embark on a hilarious consideration of society, music, literature, politics, morality and philosophy. Through Rameau’s Nephew’s intellect, actions, and appearance one can conclude that he is in fact the idea of what it means to be strange.
The meaning of what it means to be a stranger, is a foreigner, and a person or thing that is unknown or with whom one is unacquainted(“Stranger” par. 1). A stranger can be a person who comes to a place that one has never been to, one who does not know anyone. In Rameau’s Nephew, the Nephew is the strange one, the outcast.
When Diderot describes Rameau’s Nephew, he does so in a way of describing an outcast. Diderot states, “Nothing is less like him than himself. At times he is thin and gaunt like somebody at the last stages of consumption; [..] A month later, he is sleek and plump as if he had never left some millionaire’s table”(Diderot, 34). One day Rameau appears as a homeless person,and the next he looks prosperous and well off. If people would see him on the street one day, and then again on the next, they would not recognize him. He would appear different if he did not fit in with the norm, and if he did, people would ask why they never see him around. As his discussion continues with Diderot, he tends to act out as he speaks. Diderot states that he “began coughing loud enough shake the cafe windows and throw the chess players off their game”(Diderot, 73). Again to gain attention because he is a stranger in all his ways, the Nephew acts out. His appearance displays the strangeness of his personality.
In