I finally had time to listen to this ... yet another great interview (and another book that is going straight to my TBR). I've long been curious about Diderot, in part just because he is less known than other leading lights of his time, and in part because of his connection with Catherine the Great. And I love that Curran can speak from personal experience, not only having read Diderot's books but also having visited the key places of his life.
In Diderot's early years, there seems to be a bit of a superficial parallel with the great revolutionary leaders who came to prominence within a few years of his death, particularly Desmoulins and Robespierre (small town boy goes to Paris to study, ends up rejecting what he has been taught, and nothing is quite the same ever after). It's really surprising what pains the revolutionaries took to distance themselves from him, though -- unlike from Voltaire and Rousseau. As you discussed during the interview, who knows what else his legacy might have been!
In Diderot's early years, there seems to be a bit of a superficial parallel with the great revolutionary leaders who came to prominence within a few years of his death, particularly Desmoulins and Robespierre (small town boy goes to Paris to study, ends up rejecting what he has been taught, and nothing is quite the same ever after). It's really surprising what pains the revolutionaries took to distance themselves from him, though -- unlike from Voltaire and Rousseau. As you discussed during the interview, who knows what else his legacy might have been!