Diderot’s attachment to the novel and his inability to find a satisfactory conclusion reflected his ambivalence about the genre as an instrument of enlightenment. He wrote the novel when developing his theory of aesthetics in the Salons of the 1760s. Just as he warned readers about the dangers of morally suspect painters like Boucher, he worried that the novel was a frivolous genre that corrupted both readers and authors.[1] At the same time, given its popularity, he recognized the potential of the novel to reach large numbers of readers. Inspired by English contemporaries such as Richardson, Diderot combined medical theory and sentimental fiction to explore links between sensibility and morality.[2] Since moral improvement began with emotional engagement, Diderot created new expectations for readers (and viewers as described in the Salons) to immerse themselves in the text (or painting). According to Grimm, Diderot succeeded in La Religieuse because “you cannot read one page of this novel without shedding tears.” Beyond this pleasure of shared tears, Grimm hailed the novel as “a work of public utility” with its “cruel satire” of convent life.