Diderot finished The Nun in 1760, but it wasn't published in book form until 1796, twelve years after Diderot's death. What's interesting about this is that the novel is based on a practical joke played on the Marquis de Croismare. The Marquis had stayed in Normandy for several years, when one day he received a letter, where a young nun asked help after having escaped from a convent. This "nun" was actually Diderot and his friends. The story was believable, because the letter was based on Marguerite Delamarre's case, in which de Croismare had been involved (details here). The joke failed, because the Marquis, instead of returning to Paris, offered the girl a sanctuary in Normandy, so naturally the girl had to be "killed". Surprisingly, after finding out the truth, the Marquis just laughed and didn't mind at all.

Diderot then developed his novel from these letters. His sister went mad and died in a convent, and as one of the leading figures of the Enlightenment, a critic of religion, and a defender of women (or at least he was aware that they were treated as children), Diderot's stance on the convent system doesn't come as a surprise.

Although, to be more specific, the novel deals with the practice of sending girls to convents against their will for various reasons (Delamarre was three when she began her convent life). Financial difficulties and too many mouths to feed? Off to the convent! Immoral behavior? Off to the convent! Difficult to gather up a dowry, so that your daughter can't get married? Off to the convent! In mid-18th century every 200th Frenchwoman was a nun, and there were double as many convents (5000) and nuns (55 000) than monasteries and monks.

Suzanne, the protagonist, is genuinely religious, but she doesn't have a calling to be a nun. Her parents force her into a convent, because she's a consequence from her mother's affair, so her (step)father's and mother's hate and guilt lead to Suzanne feeling like she has a duty to move away from her family's, especially her siblings' who worry about their inheritance, range of vision. In short, she has way too much understanding toward her mother's situation.

When Suzanne realizes the truth about convent life, it's already too late. She's forced to suffer from physical abuse and the childish bullying of the nuns and the Mother Superior. A Mother Superior, who brags about how she's able to turn the nuns into monsters at any given moment. It's distressing to read how Suzanne tries to escape her predicament by appealing to outsiders and by getting a lawyer, because the canon law had great weight in 18th century France. An individual, especially a girl, had very little power to decide about their own life.

In real cases, the lawyers who appealed on behalf of their clients, drew attention to the women's passiveness, childlikeness, and their inability to make decisions. One case had a monk, and he was described with the same terms, so that he appeared more feminine and pathetic. The society simply considered those who wanted to get out of the convents hysterical and too keen on independence. The vow you made to God was binding, and if you tried to sever that tie, the society's family values were practically about to get destroyed (Convents and Nuns in Eighteenth-century French Politics and Culture by Mita Choudhury).

When Suzanne switches convents, her inexperience once again leads to trouble with the Mother Superior, but this time just causes confusion in the girl's naive mind. Diderot addresses women's sexual frustration boldly but not scandalously, and Suzanne isn't unhappy because she lost her loved one, so The Nun isn't comparable to earlier semi-pornographic nun fantasies written by men. I admit thinking about Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk (published in the same year) and The Devils (1971) when I first read the synopsis. The Nun, however, is vastly different, because suicidal nuns who tear their hair and go mad mostly just make you sad. There are many similarities with Delamarre's story, but you can find out yourselves what kind of an ending Suzanne has.

So far probably the most accessible 18th century novel I've read, but still very thought-provoking and intelligent. Russell Goulbourne's translation is clear and fluent, and the Oxford World's Classics edition has a great introduction with the original letters printed in the appendix. Diderot's criticism of religion is sharp, but he avoids preaching, and instead focuses on Suzanne's thoughts and experiences. There were times when the story lagged quite a bit, because the plot is pretty nonexistent, but that's minor.

"But where's the danger in one woman's intimacy with and caresses for another woman?"
Dom Morel said nothing.
"Am I not just the same as I was when I came here?"
Dom Morel said nothing.
"Wouldn't I have carried on being the same? So where's the harm in loving one another, in saying so and in showing it? It's so pleasant!"