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==Biography==
==Biography==
François-Marie Arouet was born in Paris, the youngest of the five children<ref>Wright, [http://books.google.com/books?id=wXc6AAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA505,M1 p 505].</ref> (three of whom survived) of François Arouet (1650 – 1 January 1722), a [[lawyer]] who was a minor treasury official, and his wife, Marie Marguerite d'Aumart (ca. 1660 – 13 July 1701), from a noble family of the province of [[Poitou]]. Some speculation surrounds his date of birth, which Voltaire always claimed to be 20 February 1694. Voltaire was educated by the [[Jesuits]] at the [[Collège Louis-le-Grand]] (1704–1711), where he learned [[Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]]; later in life he became fluent in [[Italian language|Italian]], Spanish and English.<ref>{{cite web |author=Liukkonen, Petri |title=Voltaire (1694–1778) – pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/voltaire.htm |accessdate=24 July 2009 }}</ref>


Han hade fina kuken(med tänderen)
By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, who wanted him to become a [[lawyer]]. Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father found out, he sent Voltaire to study law, this time in [[Caen]], [[Normandy]]. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies. Voltaire's wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. His father then obtained a job for him as a secretary to the French ambassador in the Netherlands, where Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee<!-- refugee of/from what?/FW --> named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous elopement was foiled by Voltaire's father and he was forced to return to France.<ref>Davidson, Ian. ''Voltaire: A Life,'' p. 7–9, Profile Books, London: 2010</ref>

Most of Voltaire's early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for even mild critiques of the government and religious intolerance. These activities were to result in numerous imprisonments and exiles. One satirical verse about the [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Régent]] led to his imprisonment in the [[Bastille]] for eleven months.<ref>Fitzpatrick, Martin (2000). "Toleration and the Enlightenment Movement" in Grell/Porter, ''Toleration in Enlightenment Europe'', p. 64, footnote 91, Cambridge University Press</ref> While there, he wrote his debut play, ''[[Oedipe (play)|Œdipe]]''. Its success established his reputation.

===The name "Voltaire"===
The name "Voltaire", which the author adopted in 1718, is an [[anagram]] of "''AROVET LI''," the Latinized spelling of his surname, Arouet, and the initial letters of "''le jeune''" ("the young").<ref>{{Cite book
|title=Voltaire
|work=Profiles in literature series
|author=Christopher Thacker
|publisher=Taylor & Francis
|year=1971
|isbn=978-0-7100-7020-3
|page=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=D5s9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3 3]
|url=http://books.google.com/?id=D5s9AAAAIAAJ
|postscript=.
}}</ref> The name also echoes in reverse order the syllables of the name of a family [[château]] in the [[Poitou]] region: "[[Airvault]]". The adoption of the name "Voltaire" following his incarceration at the Bastille is seen by many to mark Voltaire's formal separation from his family and his past.

[[Richard Holmes (biographer)|Richard Holmes]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Holmes, Richard|title=Sidetracks: explorations of a romantic biographer|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2000|pages=345–366}} and "Voltaire's Grin" in ''New York Review of Books'', 30 November 1995, pp. 49–55</ref> supports this derivation of the name, but adds that a writer such as Voltaire would have intended it to also convey its connotations of speed and daring. These come from associations with words such as "''[[Equestrian vaulting|voltige]]''" (acrobatics on a trapeze or horse), "''[[volte-face]]''" (a spinning about to face one's enemies), and "''volatile''" (originally, any winged creature). "Arouet" was not a noble name fit for his growing reputation, especially given that name's resonance with "''à rouer''" ("to be broken on the wheel" – a form of torture then still prevalent) and "''roué''" (a "''débauché''").

In a letter to [[Jean-Baptiste Rousseau]] in March 1719, Voltaire concludes by asking that, if Rousseau wishes to send him a return letter, he do so by addressing it to Monsieur de Voltaire. A post-scriptum explains: "''J'ai été si malheureux sous le nom d'Arouet que j'en ai pris un autre surtout pour n'être plus confondu avec le poète Roi''", which translates as, "I was so unhappy under the name d'Arouet that I took another, primarily so that I would cease to be confused with the poet Roi."<ref>http://www.e-enlightenment.com/item/voltfrVF0850079_1key001cor – "Voltaire to Jean Baptiste Rousseau, c. 1 March 1719". Electronic Enlightenment. Ed. Robert McNamee et al. Vers. 2.1. University of Oxford. 2010. Web. 20 Jun. 2010. .</ref> This probably refers to [[Adenes le Roi]], and the 'oi' diphthong was then pronounced as modern French pronounces 'ai', so the similarity to 'Arouet' is clear, and thus, it could well have been part of his rationale. Indeed, Voltaire is additionally known to have used at least 178 separate pen names during his lifetime.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/078640423X – "The appendixes offer even more: a listing of Voltaire's and Daniel Defoe's numerous pseudonyms (178 and 198, respectively)..."]</ref>

===Great Britain===
In 1726, Voltaire responded to an insult from the young French nobleman Chevalier de Rohan, whose servants beat him a few days later. Since Voltaire was seeking compensation, and was even willing to fight in a duel, the aristocratic Rohan family obtained a royal ''[[lettre de cachet]]'', an often arbitrary penal decree signed by the French King ([[Louis XV]], in the time of Voltaire) that was often bought by members of the wealthy [[nobility]] to dispose of undesirables. This warrant caused Voltaire to be imprisoned in the [[Bastille]] without a trial and without an opportunity to defend himself.<ref name="The Life of Voltaire">{{cite web|url=http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html|title=The Life of Voltaire|publisher=Thegreatdebate.org.uk|accessdate=3 August 2009}}</ref> Fearing an indefinite prison sentence, Voltaire suggested that he be exiled to England as an alternative punishment, which the French authorities accepted.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/7567947/Voltaire-in-England.html "Voltaire in England"]</ref> This incident marked the beginning of Voltaire's attempts to reform the French judicial system.

From 1726 to 1728 he lodged in Maiden Lane, [[Covent Garden]], now commemorated by a plaque at 10 Maiden Lane.<ref>City of Westminster green plaques http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/greenplaques/</ref> Voltaire's exile in Great Britain lasted nearly three years, and his experiences there greatly influenced his thinking. He was intrigued by Britain's [[constitutional monarchy]] in contrast to the French [[absolute monarchy]], and by the country's greater support of the freedoms of speech and religion. He was also influenced by several neoclassical writers of the age, and developed an interest in earlier English literature, especially the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], still relatively unknown in continental Europe. Despite pointing out his deviations from neoclassical standards, Voltaire saw Shakespeare as an example that French writers might emulate, since French drama, despite being more polished, lacked on-stage action. Later, however, as Shakespeare's influence began growing in France, Voltaire tried to set a contrary example with his own plays, decrying what he considered Shakespeare's barbarities. He was present at the funeral of [[Isaac Newton]], and praised the British for honoring a scientist of [[heretical]] religious beliefs with burial at [[Westminster Abbey]].

After almost three years in exile, Voltaire returned to Paris and published his views on British attitudes toward government, literature, and religion in a collection of essays in letter form entitled ''Letters Concerning the English Nation'' (London, 1733). In 1734, they were published in French as ''Lettres philosophiques'' in [[Rouen]]. A revised edition appeared in English in 1778 as ''[[Letters on the English|Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais]]'' (''Philosophical Letters on the English''). Most modern English editions are based on the one from 1734 and typically use the title ''Philosophical Letters'', a direct translation of that version's title.<ref>A note on the text: it has long been believed that Voltaire wrote ''Letters'' (1733) in English – a theory based mostly on the work of Harcourt Brown – however, recent studies indicate that they were in fact written in French and then translated, probably by John Lockman.</ref>

Because Voltaire regarded the British constitutional monarchy as more developed and more respectful of human rights (particularly religious tolerance) than its French counterpart, the French publication of ''Letters'' caused controversy; the book was [[Book burning|burnt]] and Voltaire was forced again to flee.

===Château de Cirey===
[[File:Voltaire Philosophy of Newton frontispiece.jpg|thumb|200px|In the frontispiece to her translation of Newton, [[Émilie du Châtelet]] appears as Voltaire's muse, reflecting Newton's heavenly insights down to Voltaire.]]
Voltaire's next destination was the Château de Cirey, on the borders of [[Champagne, France|Champagne]] and [[Lorraine (région)|Lorraine]]. The building was renovated with his money, and here he began a relationship with the Marquise du Châtelet, Gabrielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil (famous in her own right as [[Émilie du Châtelet]]). Cirey was owned by the Marquise's husband, Marquis Florent-Claude du Chatelet, who sometimes visited his wife and her lover at the chateau. The relationship, which lasted for fifteen years, had a significant intellectual element. Voltaire and the Marquise collected over 21,000 books, an enormous number for the time. Together, they studied these books and performed experiments in the "[[natural sciences]]" in his laboratory. Voltaire's experiments included an attempt to determine the elements of fire.

Having learned from his previous brushes with the authorities, Voltaire began his habit of keeping out of personal harm's way, and denying any awkward responsibility. He continued to write plays, such as ''Mérope'' (or ''La Mérope française'') and began his long research into science and history. Again, a main source of inspiration for Voltaire were the years of his British exile, during which he had been strongly influenced by the works of Sir [[Isaac Newton]]. Voltaire strongly believed in Newton's theories, especially concerning [[optics]] (Newton’s discovery that white light is composed of all the colours in the [[spectrum]] led to many experiments at Cirey), and gravity (Voltaire is the source of the famous story of Newton and the apple falling from the tree, which he had learned from Newton's niece in London and first mentioned in his "Essai sur la poésie épique", or "Essay on Epic Poetry").

Although both Voltaire and the Marquise were curious about the philosophies of [[Gottfried Leibniz]], a contemporary and rival of Newton, they remained essentially "Newtonians", despite the Marquise's adoption of certain aspects of Leibniz's arguments against Newton.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} She translated Newton's Latin ''Principia'' in full, adjusting a few errors along the way, and hers remained the definitive French translation well into the 20th century. Voltaire's book ''Eléments de la philosophie de Newton'' (''Elements of Newton's Philosophy''), which was probably co-written with the Marquise, made Newton accessible to a far greater public. It is often considered the work that finally brought about general acceptance of Newton's optical and gravitational theories.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}

Voltaire and the Marquise also studied history—particularly those persons who had contributed to civilization. Voltaire's second essay in English had been "Essay upon the Civil Wars in France". It was followed by ''La Henriade'', an epic poem on the French [[King Henri IV]], glorifying his attempt to end the Catholic-Protestant massacres with the [[Edict of Nantes]], and by a historical novel on King [[Charles XII of Sweden]]. These, along with his ''[[Letters on the English]]'' mark the beginning of Voltaire's open criticism of intolerance and established religions. Voltaire and the Marquise also explored philosophy, particularly [[metaphysics]], the branch of philosophy that deals with being and with what lies beyond the material realm such as whether or not there is a God or souls, etc. Voltaire and the Marquise analyzed the Bible, trying to discover its validity for their time. Voltaire's critical views on religion are reflected in his belief in [[separation of church and state]] and religious freedom, ideas that he had formed after his stay in England.

In the fall of 1735 Voltaire was visited by [[Francesco Algarotti]], preparing a book about Newton. In 1736 [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick the Great]] started to write letters to Voltaire. Two years later Voltaire lived in Holland and became acquainted with [[Herman Boerhaave]] and [['s Gravesande]]. In first half of 1740 Voltaire lived in Brussels and met with [[Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield|Lord Chesterfield]]. He went to see a dubious publisher Jan van Duuren in the Hague, because of the ''[[Anti-Machiavel]]'', written by the crown prince, and ordered it back. Voltaire lived in [[Huis Honselaarsdijk]] belonging to his admirer. In September they met for the first time in [[Moyland Castle]] near Cleve; in November Voltaire went to [[Rheinsberg Castle]] for two weeks; in August 1742 Voltaire and Frederick met in [[Aix-la-Chapelle]]. Voltaire was sent to [[Sanssouci]] by the French government, as an ambassador/spy and find out more about Frederick plan's after the [[Silesian Wars|First Silesian War]].<ref>http://oll.libertyfund.org/simple.php?id=350</ref>

Though deeply committed to the Marquise, Voltaire by 1744 found life at the château confining. On a visit to Paris that year, he found a new love–his niece. At first, his attraction to [[Marie Louise Mignot]] was clearly sexual, as evidenced by his letters to her (only discovered in 1937).<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=99Rnph1FGxcC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=%22mme+denis%22++Voltaire |title=Ian Davidson, Voltaire in Exile, Grove Press 2006|isbn=978-0-8021-4236-8|author1=Davidson, Ian|date=2006-01}} See also Will and Ariel Durant, The Age of Voltaire, Simon & Schuster (196 ) page 392 [http://books.google.com/books?ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&id=v6oYAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22mio+cazzo+mio+cuore%22&q=%22mio+cazzo+mio+cuore%22+]</ref> Much later, they lived together, perhaps platonically, and remained together until Voltaire's death. Meanwhile, the Marquise also took a lover, the Marquis de Saint-Lambert.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=99Rnph1FGxcC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA6&dq=%22mme+denis%22++Voltaire |title=Davidson, ibid, |page= 7 |publisher=Google Books |date= 2006-01|accessdate=3 August 2009|isbn=978-0-8021-4236-8}}</ref>

===Sanssouci===
[[File:Tafelrunde.PNG|thumb|''Die Tafelrunde'' by [[Adolph von Menzel]]. Guests of Frederick the Great, in Marble Hall at [[Sanssouci]], include members of the [[Prussian Academy of Sciences]] and Voltaire (seated, third from left).]]
After the death of the Marquise in childbirth in September 1749, Voltaire briefly returned to Paris and in 1750 moved to [[Potsdam]] to meet Frederick the Great for the fifth time.<ref>According to poet [[Richard Armour (poet)|Richard Armour]], Voltaire's friendship with Frederick existed because "Frederick considered Voltaire to be immensely clever and so did Voltaire."</ref> The king now gave him a salary of 20,000 francs a year. Though life went well at first—in 1752 he wrote ''[[Micromégas]]'', perhaps the first piece of science fiction involving ambassadors from another planet witnessing the follies of humankind—his relationship with Frederick the Great began to deteriorate and he encountered other difficulties. An argument with
[[Pierre Louis Maupertuis|Maupertuis]], the president of the [[Berlin Academy of Science]], provoked Voltaire's "[[Doctor Akakia|Diatribe du docteur Akakia]]" ("Diatribe of Doctor Akakia"), which satirized some of Maupertuis' theories and his abuse of power in his persecutions of a mutual acquaintance, [[Johann Samuel König]]. This greatly angered Frederick, who had all copies of the document burned and Voltaire arrested at an inn where he was staying along his journey home. <!--according to Caspar Hewett's bio, after a lot of quarreling with each other about many things, F. the Great gave him "a leave of absence" rather than that he got arrested-->

===Geneva and Ferney===
[[File:Voltaire's chateau, Ferney.JPG|thumb|left|Voltaire's ''[[château]]'', [[Ferney]], France]]
Voltaire headed toward Paris, but Louis XV banned him from the city, so instead he turned to [[Geneva]], near which he bought a large estate (''Les Délices''). Though he was received openly at first, the law in Geneva, which banned theatrical performances, and the publication of ''[[The Maid of Orleans (poem)|The Maid of Orleans]]'' against his will made him move at the end of 1758 across the French border to [[Ferney]], where he had bought an even larger estate, and led to Voltaire's writing of ''[[Candide|Candide, ou l'Optimisme]]'' (''Candide, or Optimism'') in 1759. This satire on [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]]'s philosophy of optimistic determinism remains the work for which Voltaire is perhaps best known. He would stay in Ferney for most of the remaining 20 years of his life, frequently entertaining distinguished guests, such as [[James Boswell]], [[Adam Smith]], [[Giacomo Casanova]], and [[Edward Gibbon]].<ref>The Scottish diarist [[James Boswell|Boswell]] recorded their conversations in 1764, which are published in ''Boswell and the Grand Tour''.</ref> In 1764, he published one of his best-known philosophical works, the ''Dictionnaire Philosophique'', a series of articles mainly on Christian history and dogmas, a few of which were originally written in Berlin.<ref name="The Life of Voltaire"/>

From 1762, he began to champion unjustly persecuted people, the case of [[Jean Calas]] being the most celebrated. This [[Huguenot]] merchant had been tortured to death in 1763, supposedly because he had murdered his son for wanting to convert to Catholicism. His possessions were confiscated and his remaining children were taken from his widow and were forced to become members of a monastery. Voltaire, seeing this as a clear case of religious persecution, managed to overturn the conviction in 1765.<ref name="The Life of Voltaire"/>

Voltaire was initiated into [[Freemasonry]] the month before his death. On 4 April 1778 Voltaire accompanied his close friend [[Benjamin Franklin]] into ''Loge des Neuf Soeurs'' in Paris, France and became an [[Entered Apprentice]] Freemason.<ref>"Benjamin Franklin...urged Voltaire to become a freemason; and Voltaire agreed, perhaps only to please Franklin."{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/?id=ISMObxdcmfsC&pg=RA4-PA112&dq=freemason+voltaire |author=Ridley, Jasper|title=The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society|year=2002|pages=114|isbn=978-1-55970-654-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanmason.com/didntARC.ihtml|title=I did not know that: Mason Facts}}{{dead link|date=March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/voltaire/voltaire.html |title=Voltaire on British Columbia Grand Lodge Site }}</ref>

===Death and burial===
[[File:Voltaire-last-house.jpg|thumb|left|Paris house where Voltaire died]]
[[File:Voltaire's tomb.jpg|thumb|right|Voltaire's tomb in Paris' [[Pantheon (Paris)|Pantheon]]]]
In February 1778, Voltaire returned for the first time in 20 years to Paris, among other reasons to see the opening of his latest tragedy, ''Irene''. The five-day journey was too much for the 83-year-old, and he believed he was about to die on 28 February, writing "I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition." However, he recovered, and in March saw a performance of ''Irene'', where he was treated by the audience as a returning hero.<ref name="The Life of Voltaire"/>

He soon became ill again and died on 30 May 1778. The accounts of his deathbed have been numerous and varying, and it has not been possible to establish the details of what precisely occurred. His enemies related that he repented and accepted the last rites given by a Catholic priest, or that he died under great torment, while his adherents told how he was defiant to his last breath.<ref>Peter Gay, ''The Enlightenment – An Interpretation, Volume 2: The Science of Freedom'', Wildwood House, London, 1973, p. 88–89.</ref> According to one story, his last words were, "Now is not the time for making new enemies." It was his response to a priest at the side of his deathbed, asking Voltaire to renounce Satan.<ref>{{cite book |title=Teach What You Believe |last=Bulston |first=Michael E |year=2007 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=978-0-8091-4481-5 |page=105 |url=http://books.google.com/?id=Qq4eY3IrT1kC&pg=PA105&dq=voltaire+last+words+making+enemies#v=onepage&q=voltaire%20last%20words%20making%20enemies&f=false |accessdate=}}</ref>

Because of his well-known criticism of the Church, which he had refused to retract before his death, Voltaire was denied a Christian burial, but friends managed to bury his body secretly at the Abbey of Scellières in [[Champagne (region)|Champagne]] before this prohibition had been announced. His heart and brain were embalmed separately.

On 11 July 1791, the [[National Assembly of France]], which regarded him as a forerunner of the French Revolution, had his remains brought back to Paris to enshrine him in the [[Panthéon, Paris|Panthéon]]. It is estimated that a million people attended the procession, which stretched throughout Paris. There was an elaborate ceremony, complete with an orchestra, and the music included a piece that [[André Grétry]] had composed specially for the event, which included a part for the "tuba curva" (an instrument that originated in Roman times as the [[Cornu (horn)|cornu]] but had recently been revived under a new name<ref>Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954; "Cornu" article</ref>).

A widely repeated story, that the remains of Voltaire were stolen by religious fanatics in 1814 or 1821 during the Pantheon restoration and thrown into a garbage heap, is false. Such rumours resulted in the coffin being opened in 1897, which confirmed that his remains were still present.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F02E3DD1638E433A2575BC0A9679C94699ED7CF "Voltaire and Rousseau, Their Tombs in the Pantheon Opened and Their Bones Exposed"], ''New York Times'', 8 January 1898</ref>


==Writings==
==Writings==

Revision as of 08:59, 30 September 2013

For other uses, see Voltaire (disambiguation).

Voltaire
portrait by Nicolas de Largillière
portrait by Nicolas de Largillière
BornFrançois-Marie Arouet
21 November 1694
Paris, France
Died30 May 1778(1778-05-30) (aged 83)
Paris, France
Pen nameVoltaire
OccupationWriter, philosopher, playwright
NationalityFrench

François-Marie Arouet (French: [fʁɑ̃.swa ma.ʁi aʁ.wɛ]; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire (pronounced [vɔl.tɛːʁ]), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.

Biography

Han hade fina kuken(med tänderen)

Writings

History

Voltaire had an enormous influence on the development of historiography through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. His best-known histories are The Age of Louis XIV (1751), and "Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations" (1756). He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history and achievements in the arts and sciences. The "Essay on Customs" traced the progress of world civilization in a universal context, thereby rejecting both nationalism and the traditional Christian frame of reference. Influenced by Bossuet's Discourse on the Universal History (1682), he was the first scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture and political history. He treated Europe as a whole, rather than a collection of nations. He was the first to emphasize the debt of medieval culture to Arab civilization, but otherwise was weak on the Middle Ages. Although he repeatedly warned against political bias on the part of the historian, he did not miss many opportunities to expose the intolerance and frauds of the church over the ages. Voltaire advised scholars that anything contradicting the normal course of nature was not to be believed. Although he found evil in the historical record, he fervently believed reason and educating the illiterate masses would lead to progress.

Voltaire explains his view of historiography in his article on "History" in Diderot's Encyclopédie:

One demands of modern historians more details, better ascertained facts, precise dates, more attention to customs, laws, mores, commerce, finance, agriculture, population.

Voltaire's histories imposed the values of the Enlightenment on the past, but he helped free historiography from antiquarianism, Eurocentrism, religious intolerance and a concentration on great men, diplomacy, and warfare.[2][3]

Yale professor Peter Gay says Voltaire wrote "very good history," citing his "scrupulous concern for truths," "careful sifting of evidence," "intelligent selection of what is important," "keen sense of drama," and "grasp of the fact that a whole civilization is a unit of study."[4]

Poetry

From an early age, Voltaire displayed a talent for writing verse and his first published work was poetry. He wrote two book-long epic poems, including the first ever written in French, the Henriade, and later, The Maid of Orleans, besides many other smaller pieces.

The Henriade was written in imitation of Virgil, using the Alexandrine couplet reformed and rendered monotonous for modern readers but it was a huge success in the 18th and early 19th century, with sixty-five editions and translations into several languages. The epic poem transformed French King Henry IV into a national hero for his attempts at instituting tolerance with his Edict of Nantes. La Pucelle [The Virgin], on the other hand, is a burlesque on the legend of Joan of Arc. Voltaire's minor poems are generally considered superior to either of these two works.

Prose

Frontispiece and first page of chapter one of an early English translation by T. Smollett et al. of Voltaire's Candide, printed by J. Newbery, 1762

Many of Voltaire's prose works and romances, usually composed as pamphlets, were written as polemics. Candide attacks the passivity inspired by Leibniz's philosophy of optimism; L'Homme aux quarante ecus (The Man of Forty Pieces of Silver), certain social and political ways of the time; Zadig and others, the received forms of moral and metaphysical orthodoxy; and some were written to deride the Bible. In these works, Voltaire's ironic style, free of exaggeration, is apparent, particularly the restraint and simplicity of the verbal treatment. Candide in particular is the best example of his style. Voltaire also has, in common with Jonathan Swift, the distinction of paving the way for science fiction's philosophical irony, particularly in his Micromégas and the vignette Plato's Dream (1756).

Voltaire at Frederick the Great's Sanssouci. Engraving by Pierre Charles Baquoy.

In general criticism and miscellaneous writing, Voltaire's writing was comparable to his other works. Almost all of his more substantive works, whether in verse or prose, are preceded by prefaces of one sort or another, which are models of his caustic yet conversational tone. In a vast variety of nondescript pamphlets and writings, he displays his skills at journalism. In pure literary criticism his principal work is the Commentaire sur Corneille, although he wrote many more similar works – sometimes (as in his Life and Notices of Molière) independently and sometimes as part of his Siècles.

Voltaire's works, especially his private letters, frequently contain the word "l'infâme" and the expression "écrasez l'infâme", or "crush the infamous". The phrase refers to abuses of the people by royalty and the clergy that Voltaire saw around him, and the superstition and intolerance that the clergy bred within the people.[5] He had felt these effects in his own exiles, the burnings of his books and those of many others, and in the hideous sufferings of Calas and La Barre. He stated in one of his most famous quotes that "Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them."

The most oft-cited Voltaire quotation is apocryphal. He is incorrectly credited with writing, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." These were not his words, but rather those of Evelyn Beatrice Hall, written under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre in her 1906 biographical book The Friends of Voltaire. Hall intended to summarize in her own words Voltaire's attitude towards Claude Adrien Helvétius and his controversial book De l'esprit, but her first-person expression was mistaken for an actual quotation from Voltaire. Her interpretation does capture the spirit of Voltaire's attitude towards Helvetius; it had been said Hall's summary was inspired by a quotation found in a 1770 Voltaire letter to an Abbot le Roche, in which he was reported to have said, "I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write."[6] Nevertheless, scholars believe there must have again been misinterpretation, as the letter does not seem to contain any such quote.[7]

Voltaire's first major philosophical work in his battle against "l'infâme" was the Traité sur la tolérance ("Treatise on Tolerance"), exposing the Calas affair, along with the tolerance exercised by other faiths and in other eras (for example, by the Jews, the Romans, the Greeks and the Chinese). Then, in his Dictionnaire philosophique, containing such articles as "Abraham", "Genesis", "Church Council", he wrote about what he perceived as the human origins of dogmas and beliefs, as well as inhuman behavior of religious and political institutions in shedding blood over the quarrels of competing sects.

Amongst other targets, Voltaire criticized France's colonial policy in North America, dismissing the vast territory of New France as "a few acres of snow" ("quelques arpents de neige").

Letters

Voltaire also engaged in an enormous amount of private correspondence during his life, totaling over 20,000 letters. Theodore Besterman's collected edition of these letters, completed only in 1964, fills 102 volumes.[8] One historian called the letters "a feast not only of wit and eloquence but of warm friendship, humane feeling, and incisive thought."[9]

Philosophy

Religion

Voltaire at 70. Engraving from 1843 edition of his Philosophical Dictionary.

Voltaire did not believe that any single religious text or tradition of revelation was needed to believe in God. Voltaire's focus was rather on the idea of universal laws, demonstrable, and in the main, still waiting to be discovered in the physical world as well as those of the moral world, underlying every religious system, along with respect for nature reflecting the contemporary pantheism.

Like other key thinkers during the European Enlightenment, Voltaire considered himself a deist, expressing the idea: "What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."[10][11]

As for religious texts, Voltaire's opinion of the Bible was mixed. Although influenced by Socinian works such as the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, Voltaire's skeptical attitude to the Bible separated him from Unitarian theologians like Fausto Sozzini or even Biblical-political writers like John Locke.[12]

This did not hinder his religious practice, though it did win for him a bad reputation in certain religious circles. The deeply Catholic Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote to his father the year of Voltaire's death, saying, "The arch-scoundrel Voltaire has finally kicked the bucket...".[13]

Evolving views of Islam and its prophet, Muhammad, can be found in Voltaire's writings. In a 1740 letter to Frederick II of Prussia, Voltaire ascribes to Muhammad a brutality that "is assuredly nothing any man can excuse" and suggests that his following stemmed from superstition and lack of enlightenment.[14] In a 1745 letter recommending his play Fanaticism, or Mahomet to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described the founder of Islam as "the founder of a false and barbarous sect" and "a false prophet."[15]

In the Scottish Enlightenment the Scots began developing a uniquely practical branch of humanism to the extent that Voltaire said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation".[16][17]

In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767 he wrote about Catholic Christianity of the time:

La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.[18]
("Ours [religion] is without a doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most blood-thirsty ever to infect the world".)

Religious tolerance

In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: "It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?"[19]

Race and slavery

Voltaire rejected the Christian Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each race had separate origins.[20] Like other philosophes, such as Buffon, he divided humanity into varieties or races and attempted to explain the differences between these races. He wondered if blacks fully shared in the common humanity or intelligence of whites due to their participation in the slave trade.[21][22]

His most famous remark on slavery is found in Candide, where the hero is horrified to learn "at what price we eat sugar in Europe" after coming across a slave in French Guinea who has been mutilated for escaping, who opines that, if all human beings have common origins as the Bible taught, it makes them cousins, concluding that "no one could treat their relatives more horribly". Elsewhere, he wrote caustically about "whites and Christians [who] proceed to purchase negroes cheaply, in order to sell them dear in America".[23][24]

Anti-semitism

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According to the rabbi Joseph Telushkin, the most significant of Enlightenment hostility against Judaism was found in Voltaire;[25] thirty of the 118 articles in his Dictionnaire philosophique dealt with Jews and described them in consistently negative ways.[26][27]

On the other hand, Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment,[25] also points to Voltaire's remarks (for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians) in the Traité sur la tolérance and surmises that "Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity". Whatever anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience.[28] Bertram Schwarzbach's far more detailed studies of Voltaire's dealings with Jewish people throughout his life concluded that he was anti-biblical, not anti-semitic. His remarks on the Jews and their "superstitions" were essentially no different from his remarks on Christians.[29]

Telushkin states that Voltaire did not limit his attack to aspects of Judaism that Christianity used as a foundation, repeatedly making it clear that he despised Jews.[25] Arthur Hertzberg claims that Gay's second suggestion is also untenable, as Voltaire himself denied its validity when he remarked that he had "forgotten about much larger bankruptcies through Christians".[30]

Legacy

Voltaire, by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1778. National Gallery of Art

Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineffective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating the idiocy of the masses.[31] Voltaire long thought only an enlightened monarch could bring about change, given the social structures of the time and the extremely high rates of illiteracy, and that it was in the king's rational interest to improve the education and welfare of his subjects. But his disappointments and disillusions with Frederick the Great changed his philosophy somewhat, and soon gave birth to one of his most enduring works, his novella Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or Optimism, 1759), which ends with a new conclusion: "It is up to us to cultivate our garden". His most polemical and ferocious attacks on intolerance and religious persecutions indeed began to appear a few years later. Candide was also burned and Voltaire jokingly claimed the actual author was a certain "Demad" in a letter, where he reaffirmed the main polemical stances of the text.[32]

Voltaire is also known for many memorable aphorisms, such as "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer" ("If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him"), contained in a verse epistle from 1768, addressed to the anonymous author of a controversial work, "The Three Impostors". But far from being the cynical remark it is often taken for, it was meant as a retort to the atheistic clique of d'Holbach, Grimm, and others.[33]

Voltaire is remembered and honored in France as a courageous polemicist who indefatigably fought for civil rights—the right to a fair trial and freedom of religion—and who denounced the hypocrisies and injustices of the Ancien Régime. The Ancien Régime involved an unfair balance of power and taxes between the First Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobles), and the Third Estate (the commoners and middle class, who were burdened with most of the taxes).

Voltaire has had his detractors among his later colleagues. The Scottish Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle argued that, while Voltaire was unsurpassed in literary form, not even the most elaborate of his works were of much value for matter and that he never uttered an original idea of his own.[citation needed] Nietzsche, however, called Carlyle a muddlehead who had not even understood the Enlightenment values he thought he was promoting.

He often used China, Siam and Japan as examples of brilliant non-European civilizations and harshly criticized slavery.[34] He particularly had admiration for the ethics and government as exemplified by Confucius.[35]

The town of Ferney, where Voltaire lived out the last 20 years of his life, is now named Ferney-Voltaire in honor of its most famous resident. His château is a museum.

Voltaire's library is preserved intact in the National Library of Russia at Saint Petersburg, Russia.

In Zurich 1916, the theater and performance group who would become the early avant-garde movement Dada named their theater The Cabaret Voltaire. A late-20th-century industrial music group then named themselves after the theater.

Astronomers have bestowed his name to the Voltaire crater on Deimos and the asteroid 5676 Voltaire.[36]

Voltaire was also known to have been an advocate for coffee, as he was purported to have drunk it 50–72 times per day. It has been suggested that high amounts of caffeine acted as a mental stimulant to his creativity.[37]

His great grand-niece was the mother of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a famous philosopher and Jesuit priest.[38][39]

Chronology

Template:Voltaire timeline

Works

Philosophical works

  • Letters concerning the English nation (London, 1733) (French version entitled Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais, Rouen, 1734), revised as Letters on the English (circa 1778)
  • Le Mondain (1736)
  • Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme (1738)
  • Zadig (1747)
  • Micromégas (1752)
  • Candide (1759)
  • Traité sur la tolérance (1763)
  • Ce qui plaît aux dames (1764)
  • Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)
  • L'Ingénu (1767)
  • La Princesse de Babylone (1768)

Plays

Voltaire wrote between fifty and sixty plays, including a few unfinished ones. Among them are these:

Historical

  • History of Charles XII, King of Sweden (1731)
  • The Age of Louis XIV (1751)
  • The Age of Louis XV (1746–1752)
  • Annals of the Empire – Charlemagne, A.D. 742 – Henry VII 1313, Vol. I (1754)
  • Annals of the Empire – Louis of Bavaria, 1315 to Ferdinand II 1631 Vol. II (1754)
  • Essay on the Manners of Nations (or 'Universal History') (1756)
  • History of the Russian Empire Under Peter the Great (Vol. I 1759; Vol. II 1763)
  • History of the Parliament of Paris (1769)[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ Voltaire, God and Human Beings
  2. ^ Paul Sakmann, "The Problems of Historical Method and of Philosophy of History in Voltaire", History and Theory, Dec 1971, Vol. 11#4 pp 24–59
  3. ^ Peter Gay, Voltaire's Politics (2nd ed. 1988)
  4. ^ Peter Gay, "Carl Becker's Heavenly City," Political Science Quarterly (1957) 72:182–99
  5. ^ Palmer, R.R. (1950). A History of the Modern World. McGraw-Hill, Inc. ISBN 0-07-040826-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Boller, Jr., Paul F. (1989). They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505541-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Charles Wirz, archivist at The Voltaire Institute and Museum in Geneva, recalled in 1994, that Hall, placed wrongly, between speech marks this quotation in two works devoted to Voltaire, recognising expressly the quotation in question was not one, in a letter of 9 May 1939, which was published in 1943 in volume LVIII under the title "Voltaire never said it" (pp.534–5) of the review "Modern language notes", Johns Hopkins Press, 1943, Baltimore. An extract from the letter: 'The phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" which you have found in my book "Voltaire in His Letters" is my own expression and should not have been put in inverted commas. Please accept my apologies for having, quite unintentionally, misled you into thinking I was quoting a sentence used by Voltaire (or anyone else but myself).' "The words "my own" were underlined personally by Hall in her letter. To believe certain commentators – Norbert Guterman, A Book of French Quotations, 1963 – Hall was referencing back to a Voltaire letter of 6 February 1770 to an abbot le Riche where Voltaire said "Reverend, I hate what you write, but I will give my life so that you can continue to write." The problem is that, if you consult the letter itself, the sentence there does not appear, nor even the idea: A M LE RICHE A AMIENS. 6 February. You left, Sir, des Welches for des Welches. You will find everywhere barbarians obstinate. The number of wise will always be small. It is true...it has increased; but it is nothing in comparison with the stupid ones; and, by misfortune, one says that God is always for the big battalions. It is necessary that the decent people stick together and stay under cover. There are no means that their small troop could tackle the party of the fanatics in open country. I was very sick, I was near death every winter; this is the reason, Sir, why I have answered you so late. I am not less touched by it than your memory. Continue to me your friendship; it comforts me my evils and stupidities of the human genre. Receive my assurances, etc. Voltaire, however, did not hesitate to wish censure against slander and personal libels. Here is what he writes in his “Atheism” article in the Dictionnaire philosophique: Aristophanes (this man that the commentators admire because he was Greek, not thinking that Socrates was Greek also), Aristophanes was the first who accustomed the Athenians to consider Socrates an atheist. [...] The tanners, the shoemakers and the dressmakers of Athens applauded a joke in which one represented Socrates raised in the air in a basket, announcing there was God, and praising himself to have stolen a coat by teaching philosophy. A whole people, whose bad government authorized such infamous licences, deserved well what it got, to become the slave of the Romans, and today of the Turks.
  8. ^ Brumfitt, J. H. (1965). "The Present State of Voltaire Studies". Forum for Modern Language Studies. I (3). Court of the University of St Andrews: 230. doi:10.1093/fmls/I.3.230. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  9. ^ Will and Ariel Durant, Rousseau and Revolution (1967), page 138
  10. ^ "Voltaire". Deism.com. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  11. ^ Voltaire. W. Dugdale, A Philosophical Dictionary ver 2, 1843, Page 473 sec 1. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  12. ^ R. E. Florida Voltaire and the Socinians 1974 "Voltaire from his very first writings on the subject of religion showed a libertine scorn of scripture, which he never lost. This set him apart from Socinianism even though he admired the simplicity of Socinian theology as well as their...".
  13. ^ Keffe, Simon P. (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Mozart. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00192-7.
  14. ^ "But that a camel-merchant should stir up insurrection in his village; that in league with some miserable followers he persuades them that he talks with the angel Gabriel; that he boasts of having been carried to heaven, where he received in part this unintelligible book, each page of which makes common sense shudder; that, to pay homage to this book, he delivers his country to iron and flame; that he cuts the throats of fathers and kidnaps daughters; that he gives to the defeated the choice of his religion or death: this is assuredly nothing any man can excuse, at least if he was not born a Turk, or if superstition has not extinguished all natural light in him." – Referring to Muhammad, in a letter to Frederick II of Prussia (December 1740), published in Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Vol. 7 (1869), edited by Georges Avenel, p. 105
  15. ^ Voltaire, Letter to Benedict XIV written in Paris on 17 August 1745: Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy? Your holiness will therefore give me leave to lay at your feet both the piece and the author of it, and humbly to request your protection of the one, and your benediction upon the other; in hopes of which, with the profoundest reverence, I kiss your sacred feet.
  16. ^ José Manuel Barroso (28 November 2006). "The Scottish enlightenment and the challenges for Europe in the 21st century; climate change and energy". Enlightenment Lecture Series, Edinburgh University. I will try to show why Voltaire was right when he said: 'Nous nous tournons vers l'Écosse pour trouver toutes nos idées sur la civilisation' [we look to Scotland for all our ideas on civilisation].
  17. ^ "Visiting The Royal Society of Edinburgh..." The Scotsman. Saturday 4 June 2005. Scotland has a proud heritage of science, research, invention and innovation, and can lay claim to some of the greatest minds and greatest discoveries since Voltaire wrote those words 250 years ago. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ Oeuvres complètes de Voltaire, Volume 7, Page 184
  19. ^ Voltaire A Treatise on Toleration (1763) http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/voltaire.html
  20. ^ Louis Sala-Molins, Dark side of the light: slavery and the French Enlightenment (2006) p 102
  21. ^ Jean de Viguerie, "Les 'Lumieres' et les peuples", Revue Historique, July 1993, Vol. 290 Issue 1, pp 161–189
  22. ^ Cohen, William B., The French encounter with Africans: white response to Blacks, 1530–1880 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003) ISBN 0-253-21650-8 p. 86
  23. ^ Davis, David Brion, The problem of slavery in Western culture (New York: Oxford University Press 1988) ISBN 0-19-505639-6 p. 392
  24. ^ A letter attributed to Voltaire, praising the slave trade, has been challenged as a possible forgery. <Edward Derbyshire Seeber, Anti-slavery opinion in France during the second half of the eighteenth century (New York: Lenox Hill Publishers 1971) p. 65
  25. ^ a b c Prager, D; Telushkin, J. Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983. page 128-9.
  26. ^ Poliakov, L. The History of Anti-Semitism: From Voltaire to Wagner. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1975 (translated). p. 88–89.
  27. ^ Voltaire, François-Marie. Essai sur les Moeurs. See also: Voltaire, François-Marie. Dictionnaire Philosophique.
  28. ^ Gay, P. The Party of Humanity: Essays in the French Enlightenment. Alfred Knopf, 1964. p. 103–105.
  29. ^ (Schwarzbach, Bertram), "Voltaire et les juifs: bilan et plaidoyer", Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (SVEC) 358, Oxford
  30. ^ Hertzberg, A. The French Enlightenment and the Jews. Columbia University, 1968. page 284.
  31. ^ "Democracy". The Philosophical Dictionary. Knopf. 1924. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  32. ^ "Letter on the subject of Candide, to the Journal encyclopédique July 15, 1759". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  33. ^ Gay, Peter Voltaire's Politics: The Poet as Realist (New Haven:Yale University 1988) p. 265: "If the heavens, despoiled of his august stamp could ever cease to manifest him, if God didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Let the wise proclaim him, and kings fear him."
  34. ^ Voltaire, François-Marie. Candide (chapter 19).
  35. ^ a b Liu, Wu-Chi (1953). "The Original Orphan of China". Comparative Literature. 5 (3): 206–207. JSTOR 1768912. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  36. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D.; International Astronomical Union (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names. Springer. p. 481. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  37. ^ Washingtonmonthly.com
  38. ^ Cowell, Siôn (2001). The Teilhard Lexicon: Understanding the language, terminology, and vision of the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-902210-37-7. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  39. ^ Kurian, George Thomas (2010). The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 591. ISBN 978-0-8108-6987-5. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  40. ^ This is an adaptation of the famous Chinese play The Orphan of Zhao, based on historical events in the Spring and Autumn period.
  41. ^ http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/00Table/15Parlem.htm
  • Note 45: Bertram Schwarzbach, "Voltaire et les juifs: bilan et plaidoyer", Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century (SVEC) 358, Oxford.

Further reading

  • App, Urs. The Birth of Orientalism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-8122-4261-4); contains a 60-page chapter (pp. 15–76) on Voltaire as a pioneer of Indomania and his use of fake Indian texts in anti-Christian propaganda.
  • Besterman, Theodore, Voltaire, (1969).
  • Brumfitt, J. H. Voltaire: Historian (1958) online edition
  • Davidson, Ian, Voltaire. A Life, London, Profile Books, 2010. ISBN 978184668261
  • Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization. Vol. IX: The Age of Voltaire. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965.
  • Gay, Peter, Voltaire's Politics, The Poet as Realist, Yale University, 1988.
  • Hadidi, Djavâd, Voltaire et l'Islam, Publications Orientalistes de France, 1974.
  • Knapp, Bettina L. Voltaire Revisited (2000)
  • Mason, Haydn, Voltaire, A Biography (1981)
  • Muller, Jerry Z., 2002. The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought. Anchor Books.
  • Pearson, Roger, 2005. Voltaire Almighty: a life in pursuit of freedom. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-58234-630-4. pp. 447
  • Quinones, Ricardo J. Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter (University of Toronto Press; 2010) 240 pages; Draws parallels between the two thinkers as voices of moderation with relevance today.
  • Schwarzbach, Bertram Eugene, Voltaire's Old Testament Criticism, Librairie Droz, Geneva, 1971.
  • Torrey, Norman L., The Spirit of Voltaire, Columbia University Press, 1938.
  • Vernon, Thomas S. (1989). "Chapter V: Voltaire". Great Infidels. M & M Pr. ISBN 0-943099-05-6.
  • Wade, Ira O. (1967). Studies on Voltaire. New York: Russell & Russell.
  • Wright, Charles Henry Conrad, A History of French Literature, Oxford University Press, 1912.
  • "The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire", ed by Nicholas Cronk, 2009.

In French

  • René Pomeau La Religion de Voltaire, Librairie Nizet, Paris, 1974.
  • Valérie Crugten-André, La vie de Voltaire [1]

Primary sources

  • Morley, J., The Works of Voltaire, A Contemporary Version, (21 vol 1901), online edition
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Voltaire".

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