“Staircase wit” of the iconoclast

Why has the moment always passed by the time you finally come up with that witty rejoinder? The French have their own expression for this frustrating moment — esprit de l’escalier.

Esprit de l’escalier literally means staircase wit. The expression is credited to the French encyclopaedist and philosopher, Denis Diderot, who described this situation in his ‘Paradoxe sur le comédien’, published in 1830.

In the original, the phrase refers to leaving a drawing room and getting halfway down the stairs before thinking of that amusing comment. Bear in mind that 18th century grand houses had their principal rooms on an upper floor.

Diderot’s fellow philosopher and friend, Jean-Jacques Rousseau also recognised his own affliction with l’esprit de l’escalier. In his autobiographical book, ‘Confessions’, he blamed such social blunders for turning him into a misanthrope, and reassured himself that he was better at conducting “conversations by mail”.

Denis Diderot (1713–84) was one of the most prominent French encyclopaedists and most powerful writers of his day. He gained his first experience of the encyclopaedic system as one of the editors of the ‘Dictionnaire de médecine’.

His ‘Pensées philosophiques’, in which he attacked both atheism and the received Christianity, was burned by order of the Parliament of Paris.

Diderot was a prominent figure during the enlightenment and was known for attacking the conventional morality of the day, with the result that he was once imprisoned at Vincennes for three months.

He made little money from his work and was helped out by Catherine II of Russia, who in 1765 bought his library, allowing him the use of his books for as long as he lived, and assigned him a yearly salary.

Diderot was buried in Paris when he died. His vast library was sent to Catherine II, who had it deposited at the National Library of Russia.