The Paradoxes of Posterity

“In addition to providing a fascinating examination of how writers such as Diderot, Casanova, and Sartre confronted the possibility of ‘writing from the grave,’ Hoffmann’s provocative and well-written book asks all writers to reflect on their own intentions (and personal mythmaking) when they themselves take up the pen.”

—Andrew Curran, author of Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely

Benjamin Hoffmann is Associate Professor of Early Modern French Studies at The Ohio State University. His recent publications include Posthumous America: Literary Reinventions of America at the End of the Eighteenth Century and a critical edition of Lezay-Marnésia’s Letters Written from the Banks of the Ohio, both published by Penn State University Press.

Alan J. Singerman is Richardson Professor Emeritus of French at Davidson College, the translator of Benjamin Hoffmann’s Posthumous America: Literary Reinventions of America at the End of the Eighteenth Century and Letters Written from the Banks of the Ohio, and the editor and translator of Abbé Prévost’s novel The Greek Girl’s Story, all published by Penn State University Press.