Dialogue by Diderot, begun c.1772, published posthumously in 1798. The work takes the form of a fictitious supplement to the recent account of a visit to Tahiti by Bougainville. A series of conversations, anecdotes, and speeches sets the happy natural life of the islanders, and particularly their codes of sexual behaviour, against the absurd and harmful mores of modern Europe. Inspired by the Utopian notions of Dom Deschamps, Diderot does not, however, take his dream entirely seriously; the concluding dialogue favours a provisional and critical acceptance of the status quo.
[Peter France]
