 Title page of volume one | |
| Author | Joseph de Maistre |
|---|---|
| Original title | Les Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg |
| Translator | Richard Lebrun |
| Language | French |
| Genre | dialogue |
| Publisher | Librairie grecque, latine et française |
Publication date | 1821 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1993 |
St Petersburg Dialogues: or Conversations on the Temporal Government of Providence (French:Les Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg, ou Entretiens sur le Gouvernement Temporel de la Providence) is an 1821 book by theSavoyard diplomat and philosopherJoseph de Maistre.
In a series ofdialogues, three characters, called the Count, the Senator and the Chevalier, meet inSaint Petersburg and explore a range of subjects related totheodicy,punishment andepistemology. The book argues that the continuous blood sacrifice of men is a constant and fundamental law in all of human life and society.[1][2][3]
St Petersburg Dialogues is Maistre's most famous and influential work. The scholar Mark Wegierski writes that it is "extraordinary" in its wide range, which includes "pointed criticisms ofLocke andVoltaire, the beginnings of alogothetic linguistic theory, as well as such controversial passages as those in praise of the executioner, and on the divinity of war".[1]
According to the Maistre scholarCarolina Armenteros, the essayistic style of the dialogues expresses an "organicism … opposed to the mechanistic rationalism ofthe Enlightenment," offering "a pre-romantic and imaginative ideal of the search for truth that springs from respect for variation and particularity … an ideal rooted in awe."[4]
FrenchWikisource has original text related to this article:Les Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg
