Complete Works of Voltaire
48 primary works • 134 total works
1B
Leaving school determined to be a poet, Voltaire's satires were admired in aristocratic circles as well as the freethinking, hedonistic "Societe du Temple". However, they soon earned him notoriety, and, in 1717, eleven months imprisonment in the Bastille. This volume brings together Voltaire's earliest poetic works, from student experimentation in rhetoric to his first major philosophical poem "Epitre a Uranie". Voltaire remained a writer who shaped himself to his audience, and these works for a private circle of intimates show a rare private persona of the poet, the opposite of the official Voltairean voice on the stage of the Comedie-Francaise. This edition includes the subversive poem "Regnante puero" attributed to Voltaire, together with a detailed overview of the political repurcussions. The one Voltairean literary genre which is still widely read today, the conte philosophique, emerges in two prose tales, which, however light-heartedly, pose disturbing questions about social behaviour.
18C
When Rameau took the world of opera by storm in 1733, Voltaire set aside his first libretto, "Tanis et Zelide", and wrote "Samson" and later "Pandore" with the composer specifically in mind. All three libretti depict rebellion against established religions, culminating in spectacular scenes: Isis and Osiris destroying the temple at Memphis; Samson bringing down the temple, crushing himself and the Philistines; and Prometheus and the Titans doing battle against the Roman gods.
18B
The comedy "L'Envieux" is a thinly veiled allegory of the Cirey household and of Desfontaines's underhand manoeuvres against it. With the publication of Desfontaines's "Voltairomanie" in December 1738, Voltaire had to abandon the idea of having the play performed. Instead he set to work on a tragedy, "Zulime", the story of a princess in love with a slave who is already married. Even though the play was not the hoped-for success that would silence his detractors, Voltaire continued to revise it and to have it privately performed for many years. Meanwhile the printer Ledet was publishing an edition of Voltaire's works, surreptitiously including the banned "Lettres philosophiques". Voltaire's "Memoire" on the edition serves the double function of pointing out all that is new as well as the printer's many errors. The "Epitre a un ministre d'Etat" is another text that underwent significant revisions over the years. Originally addressed to Maurepas - perhaps in gratitude for his help in the Desfontaines affair - the epistle seems also to have been intended for Frederick. As Voltaire's relationship with both men deteriorated, so the poem was transformed from a tribute to patronage to a lament on the plight of the arts.
49A
Voltaire's most scathingly anti-Christian text, the "Sermon des cinquante", of which he consistently denied authorship, develops the arguments he was to use over the coming decades in a multitude of virulent texts. In the period 1758-1759, biblical questions remain prominent with the "Lettre sur le Messie" and, in a gentler tone, the "Precis de l'Ecclesiaste" and "Precis du Cantique des cantiques". These years also saw the culmination of a long-brewing quarrel over the reputation of the deceased minister Joseph Saurin, which brought Voltaire's stay in Lausanne to a close. A series of philosophical dialogues and a conte round out his literary productions of this two-year span.
26A
Ce volume de l'Essai se concentre sur le XVIe siecle. Apres plusieurs chapitres consacres a l'avancee du protestantisme en Europe (chapitres 130-47), la section centrale de l'ouvrage se focalise sur la decouverte puis l'exploitation du Nouveau Monde par les grandes puissances europeennes. Les chapitres 155-62 ont pour objet l'Asie et le Proche-Orient pendant la meme periode, et annoncent un retour a l'Europe dans les chapitres qui suivent. L'annotation fournit les references detaillees des sources auxquelles Voltaire avait acces, et s'interesse a l'usage qu'il en a fait. L'ouvrage contient un index des noms propres ainsi qu'un index analytique.
3C
"Herode et Mariamne" est la troisieme tragedie de Voltaire. Une premiere version echoua de facon spectaculaire lors de sa premiere en 1724, les railleries du parterre ayant provoque un tel desordre dans la salle que les dernieres parties de la piece ne purent etre entendues. Cette representation resta sans suite. Voltaire supprima aussitot la premiere "Herode et Mariamne", dont seulement quelques fragments nous sont parvenus, et se mit a retravailler la tragedie. Un an plus tard, une nouvelle version connut un sort bien plus favorable. Jouee plus de vingt-cinq fois par la Comedie francaise, elle devint le grand succes de la saison de 1725. Malgre les critiques qu'elle attira de la part de certains, la reussite de la deuxieme "Herode et Mariamne" confirma la suprematie de Voltaire dans la vie theatrale et litteraire contemporaine. Apres 1726, les representations devinrent moins frequentes, mais dans les annees 1750 "Herode et Mariamne" connut plusieurs reprises tres appreciees, avec le renomme Lekain dans le role d'Herode. En 1762, Voltaire refondit encore la piece, en substituant l'essenien Soheme au preteur romain Varus. Cette derniere version, jouee en 1763, n'eut que deux representations, et fut assez froidement recue. Peu apres le succes de la "Herode et Mariamne" de 1725, Voltaire fut pris dans la serie d'evenements qui devaient l'amener a quitter la France pour aller habiter en Angleterre. Herode et Mariamne est la derniere grande oeuvre de cette premiere periode de celebrite qui, dans la vie de Voltaire, preceda la chute et l'exil de 1726.
26C
Dans ces derniers chapitres, Voltaire poursuit et conclut son panorama des forces motrices de l'histoire. La description des principaux pays dont il a fait l'examen dans les volumes precedents s'etend a present jusqu'a la moitie du dix-septieme siecle pour rejoindre le siecle de Louis XIV. Voltaire s'interesse a l'impact des evenements historiques sur le commerce et les arts. Il fait le point sur les progres accomplis a travers l'Europe et l'Asie en etalant un catalogue d'anecdotes extravagantes, et d'atrocites. Un debat avec les idees de Montesquieu, en particulier sur le despotisme, transparait dans certains chapitres. L'empire ottoman, la Perse, l'Inde sont presentes comme les defenseurs des droits de l'humanite et les promoteurs de la tolerance religieuse. L'importance de la civilisation europeenne est relativisee, et la Chine sert de point de comparaison pour se livrer a une critique des conditions de l'Europe. L'Essai sur les moeurs commencait et se terminera par une description de la Chine, ancienne et moderne, perspective hautement inhabituelle au dix-huitieme siecle. Dans son chapitre final, Voltaire invite le lecteur a reflechir sur le sens de la progression historique. L'annotation fournit les references detaillees des sources auxquelles Voltaire avait acces, et s'interesse a l'usage qu'il en a fait. L'ouvrage contient un index des noms propres ainsi qu'un index analytique.
56B
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 gives a full overview of Voltaire's works on l'affaire Calas, and includes all his 1762 writings on the trial and campaigns to see the conviction overturned.
11A
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. Ce volume contient un essai d'introduction au Siecle de Louis XIV redige par Diego Venturino, editeur general de la nouvelle edition. L'auteur y examine minutieusement le projet historique de Voltaire, en explorant la genese et la composition de l'oeuvre, et en la mettant en perspective dans l'histoire de l'historiographie classique. Nicholas Cronk et Jean-Alexandre Perras proposent une section sur le 'Catalogue des ecrivains', la liste biographique de Voltaire des auteurs eminents du Grand Siecle.
Collaborateurs: Nicholas Cronk, Jean-Alexandre Perras, 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.
Collaborateurs: Nicholas Cronk, Jean-Alexandre Perras, 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.
13A
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 douze premiers chapitres de cet ouvrage cle. Tout d'abord, Voltaire expose le manifeste de son projet historiographique: son histoire de Louis XIV ne sera pas celle d'un homme mais celle d'un siecle. Ces douze chapitres abordent successivement l'accession au trone du roi, la description du contexte politique europeen les bouleversements de la guerre de Trente Ans et de la Fronde, la mort du cardinal Mazarin et le commencement du regne personnel de Louis XIV. Sur le plan militaire, Voltaire decrit le declenchement des guerres de conquete des annees 1660 et 1670, surtout aux Pays-Bas et en Franche-Comte, et la renommee que le jeune roi s'acquiert. La retraite du Grand Conde et la mort du marechal Turenne, abordees a la fin du chapitre 12, marquent la fin de la premiere phase du regne de Louis XIV, celle de la gloire sans ombre. 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 dix-neuf 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.
30C
This volume completes the edition of Voltaire's writings of 1746-1748, highlighting once again the incredible diversity of Voltaire's oeuvre. It contains some short texts published for the first time in the Dresden edition of 1748, notably on political and military topics. In particular, this volume reflects some of the fruits of Voltaire's years as royal historiographer, with his writings on Louis XIV and Louis XV anticipating his later monumental "Siecle de Louis XIV".
49B
Voltaire's "Ode sur la mort de la princesse de Bareith" laments the death of Frederick the Great's sister and the horrors of the Seven Years War. Norman French, Greeks and Arabs struggle for control of Syracuse in "Tancrede", a chivalric tragedy with a new verse form, dedicated to Mme de Pompadour, the unofficial protector of the "Encyclopedie". "Socrate", another unconventional play mixing tragedy and comedy, is an allegory of the persecution of Diderot and his enterprise. Voltaire's most scathing attack on the philosophes's opponents takes the form of a practical joke: the announcement, in the "Relation de Berthier", of the death of the editor of the "Journal de Trevoux".
51B
In the wide range of essays, poems and pamphlets contained in this volume we witness Voltaire exercising his polemical powers on a remarkable multiplicity of fronts, only a matter of months before he got involved in the Calas affair. Most notably, he offers a spirited defence of French classical theatre against English influence in "Appel a toutes les nations", he launches a fierce attack against Rousseau in "Lettres sur la Nouvelle Heloise" and "Rescrit de l'empereur de la Chine", and exposes the injustice of the excommunication of actors in "Conversation de M. l'intendant des Menus". Confrontation between the embattled encyclopedistes and an increasingly confident and aggressive anti-philosophe faction in the Paris Parlement and Versailles also links a number of miscellaneous texts together in this volume.
56A
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 the "Testament de Jean Meslier", a priest recruited to aid in the denunciation of miracles, prophecies and spiritual contradictions, and a strategically invaluable ally for the dissident Voltaire. There is also the satirical "Eloge de M. de Crebillon", a petty posthumous attack on the literary works of Voltaire's deceased enemy Crebillion, and "Saul", a play about the biblical Saul and David in which heroic subject matter is instead dominated by burlesque absurdity and irony. Contributors: Diana Guiragossian Carr, Marie-Helene Cotoni, Simon Davies, Roland Desne, Henri Lagrave, Jeroom Vercruysse.
29A
The "Precis du siecle de Louis XV" is Voltaire's vivid and engaging account of his own era. In this volume, the editors present the first sixteen chapters of the work: starting with an introduction to the situation in Europe at the time of Louis XIV's death in 1715, the narrative continues through the Regency and into the midst of the War of Austrian Succession, up to the iconic French victory at the Battle of Fontenoy (1745). The text is supported by a comprehensive introduction to the work, detailing the genesis and evolution of the work through its many iterations.
30A
The first of three volumes of Voltaire's writings of 1746-1748, containing a major tragedy ("Semiramis", edited by Robert Niklaus), a comedy ("La Femme qui a raison", edited by Russell Goulbourne and Mark Waddicor), as well as the "Discours de M. de Voltaire a sa reception a l'academie francaise", edited by Karlis Raveskis, and Voltaire's shorter verse of 1746-1748, edited by R. A. Nablow. It underscores how Voltaire deployed his consummate skill as a writer across the full breadth of genres and forms, establishing himself as a multifaceted public intellectual.
30B
Written substantially in the late 1740s and published between 1747 and 1749, the three contes which are collected in this volume are among the best known of Voltaire's works. They were composed at a time when Voltaire had abandoned the tranquillity of Cirey for the tumult of Paris and Versailles, and was enjoying new recognition from members of the court and the learned societies. The three contes in the present volume, "Zadig", "Memnon" and "Le Monde comme il va", mark a new departure for Voltaire. They are the first of his fictional writings to be composed especially for the general reading public. Secure in his official prestige by the late 1740s, Voltaire felt free to publish these fictional experiments which adapt the popular mode of oriental fiction, parodying and pastiching the works of other writers - while at the same time offering serious criticisms of French society and his reflections on the nature of human happiness and the problem of evil.
1A
This volume brings together Voltaire's earliest works, from fragments of a schoolboy play to his first publications when, leaving school determined to be a poet, Voltaire's satires soon earned him notoriety, and, in 1717, eleven months imprisonment in the Bastille. "Amulius et Numitor" is said to have been started when Voltaire was only twelve years old. The play was later destroyed, possibly by the author himself, and only fragments survive. By contrast Voltaire's first published play, "Oedipe", was the most successful first production of any French tragic dramatist, displaying his remarkable ability to understand and satisfy public tastes. It was an explosive first choice for a play, declaring Voltaire a rival to the great Corneille and the Ancients, and as able as they were to treat a defining myth of Western culture. The accompanying "Lettres sur Oedipe" (here included with detailed commentaries) proved more controversial, as the writer's arrogance and attacks on other writers provided ample material for his critics. The final play in this volume, "Artemire", is the first significant literary production of Voltaire which he wished never to be republished.
45B
The new edition of Voltaire's works produced by Cramer in 1756 in close collaboration with the author contained, in volumes 4 and 5, 'Melanges de litterature, d'histoire et de philosophie'. Alongside significant works previously published were a number of new texts, some related, some standing alone, that reflect not only Voltaire's perennial interests, but a new way of presenting them in short articles or 'petits chapitres', as he referred to them. These new texts form the major part of this volume 45B of the OEuvres completes de Voltaire.
45C
"Pamela" and the "Memoires pour servir a la vie de Monsieur de Voltaire" are accounts of the author's own life, concentrating particularly on his relationship with the king of Prussia. They were composed in the 1750s, one of the most turbulent decades in Voltaire's life, which opened shortly after the death of Mme Du Chatelet with an extended visit to Prussia, and ended with his installation at Ferney with Mme Denis. It was a decade of extreme contrasts shaped by his relationship with Frederick the Great, a period of supreme, seemingly unassailable celebrity and of public humiliation, of independence and exile, of power and vulnerability. The texts are unusual in the works of Voltaire, for two reasons: they are both written as first-person narratives, dealing with the actions and emotions of the writer; and they were both unpublished during the lifetime of the author. "Pamela", a reworking of letters to Mme Denis during his years in Prussia (which were long thought to be authentic), gives a very carefully constructed view of the period, where attitudes are modified, chronology manipulated, details omitted. The same is true of the "Memoires", where the perspective is different, but still issues are simplified, and evidence changed at will. Through these two texts, Voltaire speaks directly to posterity, as he seeks to claim the authority to write about himself, to create and control his image.