«The Nun» in French with a Parallel Translation

The Nun by Diderot is a true story of a young girl forced to go to a monastery by her parents. The novel combines mysticism, madness, sadistic cruelty and arising sexuality. It provides a reader with a terrific picture of what happens when you are forced to believe and what is hidden behind the monastery life. Diderot perceived the novel not just like a story of a young girl with bad habits, but as a symbolic story of oppression and intolerance.