Complete Works of Voltaire
48 primary works • 134 total works
31A
The year 1749 was to prove a sombre one for Voltaire. His relationships with Mme Du Chatelet and Mme Denis were both in highly emotional and uncertain stages, culminating in Voltaire's utter devastation at the death of Mme Du Chatelet in September, and his ensuing need to lay the foundations of a new existence, initially in Paris and with his oldest friends. It is against this backdrop that one must envisage his literary activities in 1749. His central preoccupation was with his theatrical 'duel' with the elder Crebillon, and his response to Crebillon's challenge, the composition and staging of "Rome sauvee" and "Oreste" are described in detail in this volume, together with his "Dissertation" on the staging, ancient and modern, of the tragedy of Electra.
57A
1763-1764 shows a relentlessly satirical Voltaire whether he is goading the Le Franc de Pompignan brothers ("Writings on Jean-Jacques Le Franc de Pompignan", "Instruction pastorale de l'humble eveque d'Aletopolis", and "Letters from a quaker"), or mocking Omer de Fleury for his stance on inoculation ("Omer de Fleury etant entre, ont dit"). In "Voltaire and the tithes of Ferney", there is further evidence of his continued involvement with local and national politics on the subject of taxes, while simultaneously penning one of his early essays in biblical criticism, his "Catechisme de l'honnete homme".
29B
The "Precis du siecle de Louis XV" is Voltaire's vivid and engaging account of his own era. In this volume, the War of the Austrian Succession concludes with the victory of Maria Theresa, and France and England continue to skirmish in the global Seven Years War. Voltaire then turns his attention to French domestic politics and the attempted assassination of the king by Damiens, in the context of the struggle between the crown and the parlement. The text is supported by extensive notes and variants from manuscript drafts and significant print editions.
29C
The "Precis du siecle de Louis XV" is Voltaire's vivid and engaging account of his own era. This third and final volume contains the full text of the "Histoire de la guerre de 1741", a detailed account of the war of Austrian succession from the French perspective and written by Voltaire in his capacity of royal historiographer. The work was later partially subsumed into the Precis itself, and has rarely been edited as a separate text until now. Editorial notes help to place this work in the context of the later Precis and explain how Voltaire refined his text and altered his perspective. It provides an invaluable insight into the evolution of the text into its final form, and sheds light on Voltaire's working methods and creative process.
3A
This volume brings together works substantially composed in the years 1723 - 1728, a period of bold experimentation for the thirty-year-old Voltaire. An established tragedian, he now branched out in a wholly new direction with his one-act comedy, "L'Indiscret", performed for the first time in August 1725. This is also the period in which, for the first time, Voltaire began to conceive substantial works in prose.
6C
La treizieme des "Lettres sur les Anglais" porte sur Locke et la question de l'ame. La premiere version de la "Lettre sur Locke" - qui fait l'objet du present volume - est ecartee par Voltaire des "Lettres sur les Anglais" en 1733 a cause de ses audaces quasi-materialistes qui risquaient d'entrainer la censure de l'ensemble de l'ouvrage, et elle est remplacee par la version edulcoree que nous connaissons aujourd'hui en tant que Lettre 13. Voltaire reprend la premiere version en 1736 et developpe la comparaison entre l'homme et l'animal, vers l'affirmation d'un lien essentiel entre l''organisation' des corps et leurs proprietes cognitives. La "Lettre" lui echappe alors et connait une circulation manuscrite et de nombreuses editions au cours du dix-huitieme siecle. Elle jouera un role important dans l'emergence de la pensee materialiste au coeur des Lumieres francaises.
3B
By May 1727, when he had been resident in England for about a year, Voltaire had determined to present prospective English readers of "La Henriade", due to be published in a new and splendid edition, with a dual introduction: the "Essay on epic poetry" would provide the literary framework and the "Essay on the Civil Wars of France" the historical background. The latter work is not merely the small beginning of an immense output of historical writing; it is the first time that Voltaire writes for a reading public in prose on matters political and religious. Voltaire saw these two essays as one work, designed to promote interest in "La Henriade".
51A
En 1760, le pieux Jean-Jacques Le Franc de Pompignan denonce a l'Academie francaise la litterature et la philosophie du moment. Se declenche alors un deluge de pamphlets, un grand nombre des fusees les mieux ciblees partant de Ferney, notamment des contes en vers parmi les plus celebres de Voltaire: "La Vanite", "Le Russe a Paris" et "Le Pauvre Diable". Apres quelques mois, celui-ci se decide de reunir ces ecrits dans un "Recueil des faceties parisiennes". A ses propres textes, il ajoute quelques contributions d'autres philosophes, mais egalement des morceaux du parti ennemi, agrementes d'ajouts assassins sous la forme de notes et de prefaces.
En 1768, Voltaire publie un recueil de 38 courts chapitres (precedes d'une introduction) sur divers aspects du monde naturel sous le titre "Les Singularites de la nature". La variete des sujets abordes temoigne de l'etendue de la curiosite de Voltaire et de son interet pour les sciences naturelles naissantes. De la geologie a la biologie, l'auteur reflechit sur les grandes questions qui agitent les esprits, il mene ses propres experiences sur des limaces et des escargots, et il contredit Buffon, de Maillet et d'autres sur la question de l'origine des fossiles et de la formation des montagnes. Dans une etude proposee en introduction au volume, Gerhardt Stenger examine la place de Voltaire dans le contexte des grands debats scientifiques de son temps. Contributors: Patricia Crepin-Obert, Jean Mayer, Gerhardt Stenger.
85-135
Besterman's groundbreaking 'definitive' edition of Voltaire's correspondence is the first and only edition to be based accurately on manuscripts, and contains over 21,000 letters from and to Voltaire, or between third parties. All known letters written by and to Voltaire are printed in full, and each letter is extensively annotated. Also reproduced are more than 500 documents that shed light on various aspects of Voltaire's long career. Volumes 131-35 consist of alphabetical and chronological lists, catalogues and indexes, including a list of 'unidentifiable, spurious, doubtful and lost letters'; a key to pseudonyms and nicknames; an index of quotations; a list of incipits; and a list of letters arranged alphabetically by the names of correspondents. 'Voltaire's correspondence superbly represents a critical period of history in a picture composed day by day during more than sixty years; it gives us a close-up of the society of an entire epoch, in all its grandeur and baseness, and makes us the familiars of its thinkers and artists, kings and statesmen, tax gatherers and tripe sellers; it variously reflects the mind, the feelings, the doings of a very great man; every page illustrates the insight, the poetry of a genius, expressed in an incomparable style; and these things make Voltaire's correspondence the great classic of letter-writing, and indeed a masterpiece of literature' (Th. Besterman, Introduction to vol.85).
81-82
Theodore Besterman's edition of the notebooks Voltaire kept throughout his long life show not only the staggering breadth of his interests, but the wide reading, inquiry and curiosity which Voltaire made a record of day by day. In their casual, careless nature lies the great value of these notebooks, bringing before us the living, authentic Voltaire. This edition aims to give the reader as near a sense of the original as is typographically practicable, while improving the readability of the text, in order to depict as closely as possible the source and development of Voltaire's thought.
78A
After his final attack on Shakespeare, the "Lettre de Monsieur de Voltaire a Messieurs de l'Academie francaise", Voltaire composed "Irene" as a demonstration of the supremacy of French theatre. Whereas he had previously failed to win Marie Antoinette's favour with his divertissement, "L'Hote et l'hotesse", "Irene" finally granted him a triumphant return to Paris shortly before his death. During the years 1776-1777, Voltaire continued his fight against serfdom in the Jura region through his "Supplique a M. Turgot", the "Lettre du reverend pere Polycarpe" and the "Lettre d'un benedictin de Franche-Comte", while his "Dialogue de Maxime de Madaure, entre Sophronime et Adelos" reveals a preoccupation with mortality at the close of his life.
71A
In 1770 Voltaire, now aged 76, is writing as furiously as ever. In addition to embarking on an ambitious new project, the "Questions sur l'Encyclopedie", and writing other works of his own, he also becomes interested in publishing the texts of other writers. Three such works are brought together in this volume where they are edited in full for the first time. The first text, a somewhat uncritical edition of a sixteenth-century satire, "Le Cymbalum mundi", is disinterred by Voltaire as a cautionary tale about the absurdities of censorship. The next two, "Les Souvenirs de Mme de Caylus" and the "Journal de Dangeau", are memoirs of the grand siecle, witness to Voltaire's abiding interest in the age of Louis XIV. In all three of these somewhat unconventional 'editions', Voltaire's own voice comes through loud and clear, in his prefaces, and in often satirical footnotes.
137A-B
La bibliotheque de Voltaire, acquise par Catherine II, a ete installee a l'Ermitage en 1779. Constituee d'acquisistions faites pendant plusieurs decennies, la bibliotheque servit a Voltaire de source de documentation pour ecrire des oeuvres diverses - romans, pieces, articles, pamphlets, etc. Les innombrables traces de lecture laissees par Voltaire dans plus de la moitie de ses livres temoignent de son extraordinaire capacite de travail et du role primordial joue par sa bibliotheque. Les notes et autres traces de lecture sont reproduites integralement dans cette edition des marginalia avec les textes auxquels elles se rapportent, en les disposant exactement comme sur l'originale.
61B
Part of the complete works of the French philosopher, historian and social reformer, Voltaire. Contains his plays "Le Triumvirat", "Les Scythes" and "Charlot". For students and scholars of the 18th-century Enlightenment.
11B
Le "Siecle de Louis XIV" est l'une des etapes marquantes de la carriere de l'historien-philosophe Voltaire, et la premiere grande synthese consacree au regne de Louis XIV. L'ouvrage marque le debut de l'historiographie moderne ainsi que de l'histoire litteraire. Dans le tome 11B est propose un eventail d'outils indispensables a la comprehension du texte de Voltaire. Une liste complete des manuscrits, editions et traductions est accompagnee d'un ensemble de textes qui entourent et eclairent l'ouvrage, parmi lesquels des prefaces, avertissements, lettres a la presse, un chapitre 'perdu' et une note manuscrite. Collaborateurs: David Adams, Valerie Bajou, Linda Gil, James Hanrahan, Laurent Portes, Diego Venturino. Cette nouvelle edition critique du Siecle de Louis XIV est publiee en sept tomes (t.11A-13D des OEuvres completes de Voltaire) avec le soutien du Centre de recherche du chateau de Versailles.
13B
Le Siecle de Louis XIV est une des etapes marquantes de la carriere de l'historien-philosophe Voltaire, et la premiere grande synthese consacree au regne de Louis XIV. Ce volume contient les chapitres 13 a 24 de cet ouvrage cle. Voltaire poursuit l'histoire de la politique etrangere menee par Louis XIV a partir de 1676 jusqu'a sa mort en 1715. Les gains territoriaux francais de la paix de Nimegue sont suivis de defaites humiliantes durant la guerre de Succession d'Espagne. Les frontieres de la France sont menacees par une alliance de puissances europeennes, et le roi est contraint de demander la paix. Voltaire admire le roi pour sa capacite a s'adapter aux circonstances et a mettre de cote sa fierte pour le bien de son peuple. Il admire aussi l'equilibre des forces en Europe que laisse le souverain a sa mort. Aucun Etat, meme la France, n'est assez puissant pour dominer l'ensemble du contient. Le texte de Voltaire est enrichi de notes et de commentaires de l'editeur scientifique qui eclairent l'utilisation des sources et le contexte historiographique. Cette edition est accompagnee de seize illustrations, la plupart provenant des collections du chateau de Versailles, rarement montrees au public. Cette nouvelle edition critique du Siecle de Louis XIV est publiee en sept tomes (t.11A-13D des OEuvres completes de Voltaire) avec le soutien du Centre de recherche du chateau de Versailles.
13C
Le Siecle de Louis XIV est une des etapes marquantes de la carriere de l'historien-philosophe Voltaire, et la premiere grande synthese consacree au regne de Louis XIV. Ce volume contient les chapitres 25 a 30 de cet ouvrage determinant qui reprend l'histoire du regne de Louis XIV dans la perspective de la cour et du gouvernement. A travers toute une serie d'anecdotes, Voltaire plonge le lecteur dans la vie a la cour, avant d'aborder les changements effectues par le roi et ses ministres (Colbert en particulier) dans le gouvernement, les lois, les finances, le commerce et l'armee. Le texte de Voltaire est enrichi de notes et de commentaires de l'editeur scientifique qui eclairent l'utilisation des sources et le contexte historiographique. Cette edition est accompagnee de onze illustrations, la plupart provenant des collections du chateau de Versailles, rarement montrees au public. Cette nouvelle edition critique du Siecle de Louis XIV est publiee en sept tomes (t.11A-13D des OEuvres completes de Voltaire) avec le soutien du Centre de recherche du chateau de Versailles.
13D
Le Siecle de Louis XIV est une des etapes marquantes de la carriere de l'historien-philosophe Voltaire, et la premiere grande synthese consacree au regne de Louis XIV. Ce volume contient les chapitres 31 a 39 de cet ouvrage determinant. Voltaire y decrit des aspects de la vie culturelle pendant le regne de Louis XIV, y compris les sciences, la litterature, les beaux-arts et les controverses en matiere de religion. Le texte de Voltaire est enrichi de notes et de commentaires de l'editeur scientifique qui eclairent l'utilisation des sources et le contexte historiographique. Cette edition est accompagnee de seize illustrations, la plupart provenant des collections du chateau de Versailles, rarement montrees au public. Cette nouvelle edition critique du Siecle de Louis XIV est publiee en sept tomes (t.11A-13D des OEuvres completes de Voltaire) avec le soutien du Centre de recherche du chateau de Versailles.
56C
In 1762, Voltaire was at the height of his career, his output manifold and unceasing despite being close to 70 years of age. This was the period of Voltaire's life in which his famous battle cry - 'Ecrasez l'Infame!' was first used, as Voltaire's attacks on the Christian establishment came to a head with the case of Jean Calas, executed for murder in Toulouse, who Voltaire believed to be an innocent victim of anti-protestant prejudice. This volume contains Voltaire's monumental 'Traite sur la tolerance', a manifesto on religious fanaticism and superstition which calls for a new age of tolerance between religions following the injustice of Jean Calas' death.