Dennis Diderot
...lating texts from English to French to support the family. However, the marriage ended after a few years and Diderot fell in love with another woman named Madeleine de Puisieux, who was also a writer. Diderot gained notice as a translator of English books soon after, along with his translation of Latin words into French. He also wrote his own philosophical pieces, such as Pensees Philosophiques, which were burned by the Parliament of Paris for its anti-Christian ideas. Similarly, Diderot was imprisoned for three months for having written Lettre sur les aveugles, which was very controversial in its questioning of the existence of God. In 1745 Diderot became the editor of the Encyclopedie. The Encyclopedie was one of the principal literary achievements of the Age of Enlightenment. It contains a summary of information on all theoretical knowledge, and it challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. The Encyclopedie is made up of seventeen volumes of text and eleven of illustrations. It took him all of 26 years ...