Le knout et l'honneur des Russes (à propos de deux articles de l'Encyclopédie)

Michel Mervaud: The Knout and Russian Honour. The Encyclopédie article Knout assures the reader that in Russia this punishment is not at all considered dishonourable, an outrageous assertion inspired by travellers' accounts. It led to a vigourous protest from a Russian in the Journal encyclopédique on 15th September 1775. Four years later, the Supplément published a second article Knout by J.B. Robinet, which constituted a sort of apology. The "Letter from a Russian" poses two questions which this article tries to answer: who was the author and why did he wait eight years before protesting against the 1765 article ? We finish by pointing out that the notion of honour was present in Russia both in the laws and in people's minds.Mervaud Michel. Le knout et l'honneur des Russes (à propos de deux articles de l'Encyclopédie). In: Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie, n°14, 1993. pp. 111-124