Weil, Françoise. “L’Encyclopédie devant la
censure,” in L’Encyclopédisme (Actes du Colloque de Caen, 12-16 janvier 1987), edited by Annie Becq, le Concours de la Ligue Française de l’Enseignement et l’Université de Caen, 1991, pp. 413-19.
In a brief essay, Weil provides several remarks regarding the Encyclopédie’s first seven volumes and their relationship with censorship. She first discusses the original permission granted (in 1746) and quotes both a letter from Malesherbes and Diderot’s article “Encyclopédie” describing the dynamics of a work granted a privilège versus a permission tacite. Weil then gives the censors’ approvals of the first two volumes, connecting them to the issues in 1752. Other letters to and from Malesherbes are provided depicting the tension between religious figures and authors, especially in regard to the changes made by censors before publication (the specific example given is the article on the Constitution Unigenitus). A few examples of censoring are given for volumes IV-VII with a concluding statement calling other researchers to study the Encyclopédie’s censorship and the changes to articles that occurred as a result.
Basic Information
Country of Publication: France
Language: English
Decade: 1990s
Main Classification: Censorship
Related Sources
*In Progress*
Notes
None
Updates
6/23/2021: Created page.