Book 59

Complete Works of Voltaire 63A

by Voltaire

Published 1 January 1969
In 1767, Voltaire turned 73 and, despite precarious health, continued to write, publish and edit an astounding catalogue of works, leading to four volumes of the OEuvres completes de Voltaire being dedicated to his output from this time. This volume contains the historical burlesque poem "La Guerre civile de Geneve", dialogues on Marmontel's "Belisaire", which had recently swept Paris with controversy over questions of tolerance and pagan salvation, a debate which Voltaire happily entered further with the "Lettre a Coge". Theological criticism also generated one of the best examples of Voltairean irony, the "Diner du comte de Boulainvilliers", an anonymously published pamphlet satirizing Catholicism.