Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~180,000 words · 858 passages
Cite this work
- APAVoltaire. (n.d.). Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/voltaire-s-romances-complete-in-one-volume
- MLAVoltaire. "Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/voltaire-s-romances-complete-in-one-volume.
- ChicagoVoltaire. Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/voltaire-s-romances-complete-in-one-volume.
What it is about
Voltaire's philosophical tales gathered together: Candide, Zadig, Micromégas, L'Ingénu and the rest, in English translation.
Context and history
Voltaire did not regard these as his real work — he thought of himself as a poet and a writer of tragedies — and published almost all of them unsigned, in some cases denying authorship. Posterity has done exactly the opposite: nobody reads the tragedies now, and Candide has never stopped being reprinted. They are short, fast, and written to demolish one particular idea; Candide attacks the thesis that we live in the best of all possible worlds, formulated by Leibniz, who is also in this catalogue.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
I choose that a story should be founded on probability, and not always resemble a dream. I desire to find nothing in it trivial or extravagant; and I desire above all, that under the appearance of fable there may appear some latent truth, obvious to the discerning eye, though it escape the observation of the vulgar.--_Voltaire._ COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY PETER ECKLER, 35 FULTON STREET. 1889. PUBLISHER'S PREFACE Voltaire wrote what the people thought, and consequently his writings were universally read. He wittily ridiculed established abuses, and keenly satirized venerable absurdities. For this he was consigned to the Bastile, and this distinction served to increase his popularity and extend his influence. He was thus enabled to cope successfully with the papal hierarchy, and laugh at the murmurs of the Vatican. The struggle commenced in his youth, and continued till his death. It was a struggle of light against darkness--of freedom against tyranny; and it ended in the triumph of truth over error and of toleration over bigotry. Educated by the Jesuits, he early learned their methods, and his great ability enabled him to circumvent their wiles. The ceremonious presentation of his tragedy of _Mahomet_[1] to Pope Benedict XIV., is an example of his daring audacity;--his success with the "head of the church" shows his intellectual superiority--whilst the gracious reply of "his Holiness" fitly illustrates the pontiff's vanity. From priest to bishop, from cardinal to pope, all felt his intellectual power and all dreaded his merciless satire. He was famous as poet, dramatist, historian, and philosopher. An experienced courtier and polished writer, he gracefully and politely conquered his clerical opponents, and with courteous irony overthrew his literary critics. From his demeanor you could not judge