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The Portable Voltaire
Satirist, novelist, poet, dramatist, historian, moralist, critic, courtier and correspondent, champion of reason and fanatical adversary of fanaticism, a darling of kings with the unfortunate habit of turning them into enemies, François Arouet de Voltaire is one of the few writers to have imposed his name on an entire epoch. It is entirely appropriate that the French Enlightenment is also known as "the age of Voltaire." And if that age ended with a revolution, Voltaire was nothing if not a subversive. His abiding motto was "Écrasez l'infame": "Crush infamy."
This encyclopedic anthology acquaints us with Voltaire's mercurial range of expression as well as with the steadfastness of his vision, which might be called the religion of reason. It includes his sardonic comedies Candide and Zadig; the tales "Micromegas" and 'Story of a Good Brahmin"; more than seventy articles from the Philosophical Dictionary that offer heretical definitions of subjects from Adultery to Tyranny; letters written to such correspondents as Frederick the Great and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; selections from The English Letters and Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations, and the long poem "The Lisbon Earthquake." The whole is rounded out with an Introduction by Ben Ray Redman, which distills Voltaire's prodigious oeuvre while summing up the grand picaresque adventure of his life.
Cover design by Melissa Jacoby
Portrait of Voltaire after N. de Largilliere, 1718.
Collection Musee Carnavalet, Paris. Photograph: Art Resource
Description from back cover
Contents
Editor's introduction
Some dates in the life of Voltaire
Brief bibliography of works Voltaire
Philosophical dictionary
Selections
Miscellany
Candide
Zadig
Micromegas
Story of a good Brahmin
Letters
- To Frederick the great
- Miscellaneous letters
- Selections from the English letters
Essay on the manners and spirit of nations: Recapitulation
Lisbon earthquake
- Author's preface
- Lisbon earthquake
This encyclopedic anthology acquaints us with Voltaire's mercurial range of expression as well as with the steadfastness of his vision, which might be called the religion of reason. It includes his sardonic comedies Candide and Zadig; the tales "Micromegas" and 'Story of a Good Brahmin"; more than seventy articles from the Philosophical Dictionary that offer heretical definitions of subjects from Adultery to Tyranny; letters written to such correspondents as Frederick the Great and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; selections from The English Letters and Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations, and the long poem "The Lisbon Earthquake." The whole is rounded out with an Introduction by Ben Ray Redman, which distills Voltaire's prodigious oeuvre while summing up the grand picaresque adventure of his life.
Cover design by Melissa Jacoby
Portrait of Voltaire after N. de Largilliere, 1718.
Collection Musee Carnavalet, Paris. Photograph: Art Resource
Description from back cover
Contents
Editor's introduction
Some dates in the life of Voltaire
Brief bibliography of works Voltaire
Philosophical dictionary
Selections
Miscellany
Candide
Zadig
Micromegas
Story of a good Brahmin
Letters
- To Frederick the great
- Miscellaneous letters
- Selections from the English letters
Essay on the manners and spirit of nations: Recapitulation
Lisbon earthquake
- Author's preface
- Lisbon earthquake
569 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
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About the author
Voltaire
9,427 books4,942 followersComplete works (1880) : https://archive.org/details/oeuvresco...
In 1694, Age of Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. Jesuit-educated, he began writing clever verses by the age of 12. He launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille. Upon a second imprisonment, in which Francois adopted the pen name Voltaire, he was released after agreeing to move to London. There he wrote Lettres philosophiques (1733), which galvanized French reform. The book also satirized the religious teachings of Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, including Pascal's famed "wager" on God. Voltaire wrote: "The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing." Voltaire's French publisher was sent to the Bastille and Voltaire had to escape from Paris again, as judges sentenced the book to be "torn and burned in the Palace." Voltaire spent a calm 16 years with his deistic mistress, Madame du Chatelet, in Lorraine. He met the 27 year old married mother when he was 39. In his memoirs, he wrote: "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did, and decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." He dedicated Traite de metaphysique to her. In it the Deist candidly rejected immortality and questioned belief in God. It was not published until the 1780s. Voltaire continued writing amusing but meaty philosophical plays and histories. After the earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755, in which 15,000 people perished and another 15,000 were wounded, Voltaire wrote Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster): "But how conceive a God supremely good/ Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,/ Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?"
Voltaire purchased a chateau in Geneva, where, among other works, he wrote Candide (1759). To avoid Calvinist persecution, Voltaire moved across the border to Ferney, where the wealthy writer lived for 18 years until his death. Voltaire began to openly challenge Christianity, calling it "the infamous thing." He wrote Frederick the Great: "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." Voltaire ended every letter to friends with "Ecrasez l'infame" (crush the infamy — the Christian religion). His pamphlet, The Sermon on the Fifty (1762) went after transubstantiation, miracles, biblical contradictions, the Jewish religion, and the Christian God. Voltaire wrote that a true god "surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough," or inspired "books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror." He also published excerpts of Testament of the Abbe Meslier, by an atheist priest, in Holland, which advanced the Enlightenment. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary was published in 1764 without his name. Although the first edition immediately sold out, Geneva officials, followed by Dutch and Parisian, had the books burned. It was published in 1769 as two large volumes. Voltaire campaigned fiercely against civil atrocities in the name of religion, writing pamphlets and commentaries about the barbaric execution of a Huguenot trader, who was first broken at the wheel, then burned at the stake, in 1762. Voltaire's campaign for justice and restitution ended with a posthumous retrial in 1765, during which 40 Parisian judges declared the defendant innocent. Voltaire urgently tried to save the life of Chevalier de la Barre, a 19 year old sentenced to death for blasphemy for failing to remove his hat during a religious procession. In 1766, Chevalier was beheaded after being tortured, then his body was burned, along with a copy of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire's statue at the Pantheon was melted down during Nazi occupation. D. 1778.
Voltaire (1694-1778), pseudónimo de François-
In 1694, Age of Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. Jesuit-educated, he began writing clever verses by the age of 12. He launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille. Upon a second imprisonment, in which Francois adopted the pen name Voltaire, he was released after agreeing to move to London. There he wrote Lettres philosophiques (1733), which galvanized French reform. The book also satirized the religious teachings of Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, including Pascal's famed "wager" on God. Voltaire wrote: "The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing." Voltaire's French publisher was sent to the Bastille and Voltaire had to escape from Paris again, as judges sentenced the book to be "torn and burned in the Palace." Voltaire spent a calm 16 years with his deistic mistress, Madame du Chatelet, in Lorraine. He met the 27 year old married mother when he was 39. In his memoirs, he wrote: "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did, and decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." He dedicated Traite de metaphysique to her. In it the Deist candidly rejected immortality and questioned belief in God. It was not published until the 1780s. Voltaire continued writing amusing but meaty philosophical plays and histories. After the earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755, in which 15,000 people perished and another 15,000 were wounded, Voltaire wrote Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster): "But how conceive a God supremely good/ Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,/ Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?"
Voltaire purchased a chateau in Geneva, where, among other works, he wrote Candide (1759). To avoid Calvinist persecution, Voltaire moved across the border to Ferney, where the wealthy writer lived for 18 years until his death. Voltaire began to openly challenge Christianity, calling it "the infamous thing." He wrote Frederick the Great: "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." Voltaire ended every letter to friends with "Ecrasez l'infame" (crush the infamy — the Christian religion). His pamphlet, The Sermon on the Fifty (1762) went after transubstantiation, miracles, biblical contradictions, the Jewish religion, and the Christian God. Voltaire wrote that a true god "surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough," or inspired "books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror." He also published excerpts of Testament of the Abbe Meslier, by an atheist priest, in Holland, which advanced the Enlightenment. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary was published in 1764 without his name. Although the first edition immediately sold out, Geneva officials, followed by Dutch and Parisian, had the books burned. It was published in 1769 as two large volumes. Voltaire campaigned fiercely against civil atrocities in the name of religion, writing pamphlets and commentaries about the barbaric execution of a Huguenot trader, who was first broken at the wheel, then burned at the stake, in 1762. Voltaire's campaign for justice and restitution ended with a posthumous retrial in 1765, during which 40 Parisian judges declared the defendant innocent. Voltaire urgently tried to save the life of Chevalier de la Barre, a 19 year old sentenced to death for blasphemy for failing to remove his hat during a religious procession. In 1766, Chevalier was beheaded after being tortured, then his body was burned, along with a copy of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire's statue at the Pantheon was melted down during Nazi occupation. D. 1778.
Voltaire (1694-1778), pseudónimo de François-
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
May 8, 2017
J'ai fini :)
I proudly wrote "I finished" because this books took me more than year and a half to finish. I found a copy of this edition at a very cool coffee shop in Mexico City and fell in love with the Penguin Edition. So I borrowed it. I must confess I was scared of reading the direct work of a philospher, as I am not really fond of philosphy and find it difficult to follow up. So this Portable Voltaire book was quite a nice surprise, not only as it was a careful selection of key works and miscellaneous thoughts and ideas but also because it allowed me to discover a clever, witty, sarcastic, funny philospher... Perhaps I was biased by my high school classes on philosophy and their unsuccessful attempt to bring a 16 year old teenager to Nietzche or so, but by reading this book, I discovered that philosphy can be funny and that truly great thinkers are not that complicated. For, was it not Voltaire, along with other two key French figures, who with their work, brought a whole Revolution of thought and in history?
Voltaire is funny and at the same time, precise on its critique. This selection shows that he was always opposed to fanaticism, to religion and to ideas that made men ridiculus to the point of avoiding any critique and failing to see truth. Anything that opposes knowledge and learning is, to Voltaire, the quickest way towards failure and suffering. As he wrote "less fanaticism, less misery".
I found two of his complete works, included in this volume, quite hilarous "Candide" and "Zadig". I thinks that the contemporary reader could find these stories -particularly Candide- dull and silly, to modern standards. However, one must always consider the author´s time and context. Candide is a story that can be considered as silly and absurd, and yet, the idea behind it is what should remain. The character is Candide, an orphan adopted by a rich family sometime in the the 16th centry or so, whose life is, to say the least a catastrophe. He is a man who is separeted from those he loves one and again, and sees every disaster that can befall men time and again. He fails to believe that "things are always the best that they can be" as was a common belief on Voltaire's time, most likely a lesson from religion. Candide refuses to accept that thought and in every adventure he lives -from Europe to Africa, to America- he fights this. Though he does not have a quite happy ending, he understands at last, that things will always be as good as men, as we, make and work for them to be. That is, one can make oneself content by what one has, and work for it to be the best.
Zadig is somewhat similar, as we see the story of a man to whom tragedy befalls him for being wise, just and fair, but he never ceases to do good in his life.
In short, this book, though not easy to finish -one should take pauses- contains excellent works by Voltaire. A must-read, I should say.
I proudly wrote "I finished" because this books took me more than year and a half to finish. I found a copy of this edition at a very cool coffee shop in Mexico City and fell in love with the Penguin Edition. So I borrowed it. I must confess I was scared of reading the direct work of a philospher, as I am not really fond of philosphy and find it difficult to follow up. So this Portable Voltaire book was quite a nice surprise, not only as it was a careful selection of key works and miscellaneous thoughts and ideas but also because it allowed me to discover a clever, witty, sarcastic, funny philospher... Perhaps I was biased by my high school classes on philosophy and their unsuccessful attempt to bring a 16 year old teenager to Nietzche or so, but by reading this book, I discovered that philosphy can be funny and that truly great thinkers are not that complicated. For, was it not Voltaire, along with other two key French figures, who with their work, brought a whole Revolution of thought and in history?
Voltaire is funny and at the same time, precise on its critique. This selection shows that he was always opposed to fanaticism, to religion and to ideas that made men ridiculus to the point of avoiding any critique and failing to see truth. Anything that opposes knowledge and learning is, to Voltaire, the quickest way towards failure and suffering. As he wrote "less fanaticism, less misery".
I found two of his complete works, included in this volume, quite hilarous "Candide" and "Zadig". I thinks that the contemporary reader could find these stories -particularly Candide- dull and silly, to modern standards. However, one must always consider the author´s time and context. Candide is a story that can be considered as silly and absurd, and yet, the idea behind it is what should remain. The character is Candide, an orphan adopted by a rich family sometime in the the 16th centry or so, whose life is, to say the least a catastrophe. He is a man who is separeted from those he loves one and again, and sees every disaster that can befall men time and again. He fails to believe that "things are always the best that they can be" as was a common belief on Voltaire's time, most likely a lesson from religion. Candide refuses to accept that thought and in every adventure he lives -from Europe to Africa, to America- he fights this. Though he does not have a quite happy ending, he understands at last, that things will always be as good as men, as we, make and work for them to be. That is, one can make oneself content by what one has, and work for it to be the best.
Zadig is somewhat similar, as we see the story of a man to whom tragedy befalls him for being wise, just and fair, but he never ceases to do good in his life.
In short, this book, though not easy to finish -one should take pauses- contains excellent works by Voltaire. A must-read, I should say.
Read
January 28, 2022A genius for all time. Highly accessible and if you do not want to read the entire book it is easy to read by parts because this contains different works of his.
Some outstanding parts to me:
"The soul", he said, "is a pure spirit which has received in its mother's womb all metaphysical ideas and which, on leaving it, has to go to school to learn over again what it knew so well, and will never know again".p 433
One of the greatest benefits you can confer upon mankind is to trample under foot superstition and fanaticism; not to allow a man in a gown to persecute others who do not think as he does. p.446
It is not that any single man of all these millions who slaughter each other claims one straw on the mid-heap. The point is-shall the mud-heap belong to a certain man called 'Sultan' or to another called, I know not why, 'Cesar'? Neither of them has ever seen or will ever see the little bit of land in dispute, and barely one of these animals which slaughter each other has ever seen the animal for which is slaughtered. p. 431
Should definitely be a book on most shelves.
Some outstanding parts to me:
"The soul", he said, "is a pure spirit which has received in its mother's womb all metaphysical ideas and which, on leaving it, has to go to school to learn over again what it knew so well, and will never know again".p 433
One of the greatest benefits you can confer upon mankind is to trample under foot superstition and fanaticism; not to allow a man in a gown to persecute others who do not think as he does. p.446
It is not that any single man of all these millions who slaughter each other claims one straw on the mid-heap. The point is-shall the mud-heap belong to a certain man called 'Sultan' or to another called, I know not why, 'Cesar'? Neither of them has ever seen or will ever see the little bit of land in dispute, and barely one of these animals which slaughter each other has ever seen the animal for which is slaughtered. p. 431
Should definitely be a book on most shelves.
March 1, 2019
The Portable Voltaire is the literary version of a greatest hits album. Ben Ray Redman has included selections from Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, Candide, Zadig, Micromegas, various letters and other odds and ends. Putting together this kind of book for a writer like Voltaire is particularly difficult because there is only one work that obviously HAS to be included (Candide) and after that you have a wide selection in a huge number of genres to chose from (poetry, drama, satire, history, polemics, philosophy, fiction...). Redman has done a good job except I would have left out Zadig (because it's sort of an inferior kind of Candide) and included a play (though I don't have one to suggest because I haven't read any of Voltaire's plays.) I also liked Redman's well written and insightful introduction.
October 28, 2021
Superb selection of translations of several major works by Voltaire, including Candide, Zadig, selected entries to the Dictionary of Philosophy, the Lisbon Earthquake and other correspondence. Does not include the Henriade, but is otherwise a good introduction to the writing of Voltaire in translation. Voltaire's "enlightenment" polemics are not systematic, but rather are witty and rhetorical in nature. The voluminous introduction by Ben Ray Redman is an excellent biographical reprise. This is an important part of any library of enlightenment thought.
Currently reading
January 24, 2009this is my "while eating dinner" book. he is light hearted, funny, and a great way to calm down my day.
April 16, 2021
A nice sampler of Voltaire's writing. I picked it up because, well, why not?
It's wry, sharp, and worldly, none of which would come as a surprise if you know a single thing about him. In the sampler is much richness. The selections from his Dictionnaire Philosophique are perfectly piquant. And Candide! I'd never read Candide, and had not realized that it's a lovely bit of satire thrown pointedly at Leibniz. Dang. There's the novella MicroMegas, which is honest to goodness Enlightenment era literary sci fi about an alien from Sirius. And Voltaire is perfectly willing to winkingly discuss human sexuality, in ways that are very very French but must have been wildly shocking to folks of his era.
This is good stuff.
A little more frequently than I'd like, there's some jarring antisemitism. Plus some rather less than enlightened reflections on race. I mean, hey. Ain't nobody perfect. That, and I don't agree with him about a whole range of things. Which is fine.
A four point one. Well worth the read.
It's wry, sharp, and worldly, none of which would come as a surprise if you know a single thing about him. In the sampler is much richness. The selections from his Dictionnaire Philosophique are perfectly piquant. And Candide! I'd never read Candide, and had not realized that it's a lovely bit of satire thrown pointedly at Leibniz. Dang. There's the novella MicroMegas, which is honest to goodness Enlightenment era literary sci fi about an alien from Sirius. And Voltaire is perfectly willing to winkingly discuss human sexuality, in ways that are very very French but must have been wildly shocking to folks of his era.
This is good stuff.
A little more frequently than I'd like, there's some jarring antisemitism. Plus some rather less than enlightened reflections on race. I mean, hey. Ain't nobody perfect. That, and I don't agree with him about a whole range of things. Which is fine.
A four point one. Well worth the read.
February 3, 2012
I had pulled this off the shelf with the intent of just rereading Candide,and found pulled back in to this book. Voltaire's wit and relevancy stand the test of time, though for anyone unfamiliar with his work, I wouldn't recommend sitting down and writing this compilation of essays and non-fiction in hte order presented. Start with Candide and Zadig and then work your way back up front to
the philosophic essays or correspondence.
the philosophic essays or correspondence.
February 18, 2025
This short book like reads like a story. I really enjoyed learning about Voltaire’s life.
September 26, 2014
really good intro by famous rapper redman. there's lots of good stuff here, one of my favorite parts voltaire's poem about the lisbon earthquake that he wrote bc because he thinks such a tragedy needs to have some art dedicated to it rather than philo text walls but till can't help sticking in page long footnotes.
June 8, 2008
I will be honest I have not read the whole dictionary or all the letters. The letters are just to pompous. Candide is a really great read. Voltaire is definately worth the time to read especiialy if you like Vonnegut, Dostoevsky, Sarte, or Camus.
March 5, 2011
What a strange character--slipping in and out of theism, becoming Frederick's pet, whining about his poor health and imminent death for 40 years… and how did "Candide" ever become more famous than the far superior "Zadig"?
July 10, 2014
Voltaire's 'Philosophical Dictionary' is one of my favorite reads and I personally enjoy 'Zadig' more than 'Candide', but it's nice to have many of his works in one book... So it's easy to refer to time and time again.
July 3, 2021
Read this book as part of my trip through French literature. Only previous "portable" I'd previously read was that of James Joyce (many years ago). The series does give the reader a sampling of an author. One has to trust the editor for what he has included: the best, the most famous, the most typical writings? This being my first exposure to Voltaire, I can't say. This representative book tells me that Voltaire must have been a learned, curious and entertaining character, and familiar with many of what we would call academic fields. His championship of reason and his war against prejudice and religion certainly come through. I can't tell whether he simply "repesented" (or reported on) these ideas, positions and opinions, or came up with many of them himself - how original a thinker was he? 'Candide' and 'Zadig' were certainly inventive tales to expose ideas and ask questions about the meaning of reality, the world, mankind, etc. The selections from Philosophical Dictionary seemed scattered, following a piece on a deep moral question with something bordering on mundane or silly. I always ask, before reading a book, when was it written/published - what did readers and the author's acquaintances know at that time? And for its time, I suspect that Voltaire's work had sufficient importance to have an era named after him.
January 26, 2022
Interesting throughout and thoroughly witty. It's remarkable how incisive and relevant Voltaire's humor is today. The translation was easier to follow along with than I had expected. This is much easier than reading, say, Shakespeare, and doesn't feel dated. His pacing is almost modern, with a detectable sarcasm and ironic slant found throughout. Candide is absolutely timeless. I recommend it for everyone.
It would be a bit of a slog to just read straight through. I recommend reading "Candide" in a few sittings and then picking your favorite "dictionary" entries to digest bit by bit.
We need more writers like Voltaire today.
It would be a bit of a slog to just read straight through. I recommend reading "Candide" in a few sittings and then picking your favorite "dictionary" entries to digest bit by bit.
We need more writers like Voltaire today.
January 21, 2018
Here was a conundrum of a man: champion of tolerance, he hated religion (except he admired Islam!); promoter of virtue, he indulged in sin; revolutionary, he deified Frederick of Prussia, and; advocate of mankind, he abhorred the common man. On balance he was a despicable hypocrite with an engaging and perceptive wit. This selection of his works shows his obvious talent and his latent egomania.
I dislike Voltaire, but admire his writing.
I dislike Voltaire, but admire his writing.
October 24, 2022
I found the book was an enjoyable glimpse into the writings of Voltaire. His writing, or at least the translation, is very accessible and his stories flow nicely. His non-fiction writing was an interesting glimpse of a different time where some things were different and some things, sadly, very much the same.
September 20, 2024
Reread CANDIDE— just brilliant. Read ZADIG, which was similar but a super interesting Biblical riff. The intro, which was an extended biography of Voltaire was super funny and had a similar picaresque vibe like that of his prose. I didn’t finish reading some of his philosophical essays but I think those are best enjoyed in little bursts.
February 7, 2022
Gran Biografía de este Filósofo Francés. Acompañada de líneas del tiempo, pinturas y detalles desconocidos.
November 7, 2023
Rare insight still very relevant today
Always knew V as a deist, but now understand what it means so to be.
As a practicing Christian, the metaphysics and some of the history, leaves me edgy.
Now I have a real home for my faith.
Always knew V as a deist, but now understand what it means so to be.
As a practicing Christian, the metaphysics and some of the history, leaves me edgy.
Now I have a real home for my faith.
April 2, 2010
In this selection of Voltaire's writings, three pieces in particular stand out. "Candide," the story of travels by a young man of that name, reads like a bad dream. Candide goes from one unfortunate situation to another in pursuit of his love. Each of his events is an opportunity for Voltaire to poke at the standard conventions of his day, particularly those espoused or manifested by religious leaders who are venal and corrupt, philosophers who are are thoughtless or foolish, and the powerful who are all of the above. At his Buenos Aires stop, Candide calls on the governor, Don Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza, with Voltaire commenting that "This gentleman had the pride befitting a man who owned so many names." In the botched hanging of Candide's wise man associate, Pangloss, Voltaire writes, "The executioner of the holy Inquisition, who was a subdeacon, was marvelously skillful in burning people, but he was not accustomed to hang them." While the rope did not work right,Pangloss was thought to be dead until a surgeon began to dissect him, prompting Pangloss to come alive and scream, with the surgeon thinking that the dead man had a devil inside.
In "Zadig," a philosopher in Babylon, there is more of the same. In his backhanded commentary on civilized society, people "were astonished to observe that despite his [Zadig's:] good sense he never derided the...reckless backbiting, the ignorant conclusions, the coarse quips, the empty tumult of words, which in Babylon were called 'conversation.'" Commenting on the fifteen hundred year dispute that had split the empire into two stubborn sects, Voltaire writes that one sect "claimed that one should always enter the temple of Mithra with the left foot; the other held this custom in abomination, and never entered but with the right foot." Zadig, the wise philosopher, solved this problem when he entered the temple by "jumping with his feet together."
In "Micromegas," Voltaire describes the encounter between planet-sized visitors from space and earth beings. In this encounter, humans were found to be atom sized, "invisible insects who the Creator has pleased should be born in this abyss of the infinitely little." To their surprise, the visitors to earth found the inhabitants had "organs of speech," and concluded that since they could speak, they could think and therefore they must have a soul, all of which "seemed so absurd." Micromegas addressed the philosophers among these men: "O intelligent atoms in whom the Eternal Being has been pleased to manifest His dexterity and His might....Nowhere yet have I found real happiness, but that you have it here I cannot doubt." In responding honestly, one of the philosophers said, "Do you realize...that at this moment there are a hundred thousand madmen of our species wearing hats killing, or being killed by, a hundred thousand other animals wearing turbans, and that over almost all the face of the earth this has been the custom from time immemorial?" As to the cause of the killings, the man philosopher said the men-animals were fighting over a "mud-heap" belonging to "a certain man called 'Sultan' or another called, I know not why, 'Caesar'...and Neither of them has ever seen or will ever see the little bit of land in dispute." Asked whether these men had soul, each of the philosopher scholars provided different answers, quoting well-known thinkers. Finally, one quotes Aristotle in Greek. When asked why he quotes in Greek, the scholar responds that "one should always quote what one does not comprehend at all in the language one understands least."
While these three stories can be read many times for enjoyment, the selections from the "Philosophical Dictionary" are not particularly insightful. The same could be said about the sample of Voltaire's letters to Frederick the Great but here is also displayed an overly obsequious and less than flattering side to Voltaire. In his essay on "Manners and Spirit of Nations," Voltaire sums up much of his thinking: "All history, then, in short, is little else than a long succession of useless cruelties...." His distilled statement on nature versus nurture is good: "Nature establishes unity, and everywhere settles a few invariable principles; the soil is still the same, but culture produces various fruits." In the "Story of a Good Brahmin," an old woman was asked if she was troubled by the thought "that she was ignorant of the nature of her soul." She did not understand the question for "Never in all her life had she reflected for one single moment on one single point of all those which tormented the Brahmin." In his poem on the Lisbon Earthquake, Voltaire takes on the philosophical perspective that all that happens is good (Leibniz). The meaning of that disaster is Voltaire's clear challenge to that perspective.
In "Zadig," a philosopher in Babylon, there is more of the same. In his backhanded commentary on civilized society, people "were astonished to observe that despite his [Zadig's:] good sense he never derided the...reckless backbiting, the ignorant conclusions, the coarse quips, the empty tumult of words, which in Babylon were called 'conversation.'" Commenting on the fifteen hundred year dispute that had split the empire into two stubborn sects, Voltaire writes that one sect "claimed that one should always enter the temple of Mithra with the left foot; the other held this custom in abomination, and never entered but with the right foot." Zadig, the wise philosopher, solved this problem when he entered the temple by "jumping with his feet together."
In "Micromegas," Voltaire describes the encounter between planet-sized visitors from space and earth beings. In this encounter, humans were found to be atom sized, "invisible insects who the Creator has pleased should be born in this abyss of the infinitely little." To their surprise, the visitors to earth found the inhabitants had "organs of speech," and concluded that since they could speak, they could think and therefore they must have a soul, all of which "seemed so absurd." Micromegas addressed the philosophers among these men: "O intelligent atoms in whom the Eternal Being has been pleased to manifest His dexterity and His might....Nowhere yet have I found real happiness, but that you have it here I cannot doubt." In responding honestly, one of the philosophers said, "Do you realize...that at this moment there are a hundred thousand madmen of our species wearing hats killing, or being killed by, a hundred thousand other animals wearing turbans, and that over almost all the face of the earth this has been the custom from time immemorial?" As to the cause of the killings, the man philosopher said the men-animals were fighting over a "mud-heap" belonging to "a certain man called 'Sultan' or another called, I know not why, 'Caesar'...and Neither of them has ever seen or will ever see the little bit of land in dispute." Asked whether these men had soul, each of the philosopher scholars provided different answers, quoting well-known thinkers. Finally, one quotes Aristotle in Greek. When asked why he quotes in Greek, the scholar responds that "one should always quote what one does not comprehend at all in the language one understands least."
While these three stories can be read many times for enjoyment, the selections from the "Philosophical Dictionary" are not particularly insightful. The same could be said about the sample of Voltaire's letters to Frederick the Great but here is also displayed an overly obsequious and less than flattering side to Voltaire. In his essay on "Manners and Spirit of Nations," Voltaire sums up much of his thinking: "All history, then, in short, is little else than a long succession of useless cruelties...." His distilled statement on nature versus nurture is good: "Nature establishes unity, and everywhere settles a few invariable principles; the soil is still the same, but culture produces various fruits." In the "Story of a Good Brahmin," an old woman was asked if she was troubled by the thought "that she was ignorant of the nature of her soul." She did not understand the question for "Never in all her life had she reflected for one single moment on one single point of all those which tormented the Brahmin." In his poem on the Lisbon Earthquake, Voltaire takes on the philosophical perspective that all that happens is good (Leibniz). The meaning of that disaster is Voltaire's clear challenge to that perspective.
January 4, 2009
I haven't read the entire works, simply the translation of Candide done by Richard Aldington. It proved to be an incredibly easy and accessible read. Not something I expected from such an old book. I must say I prefer the excitement and hilarity embodied in Leonard Bernstein's stage musical version of Candide, but the book has its moments.
September 13, 2010
edited by ben ray redman in 1949, this is a very good collection of voltaire's work: shorts, essays, letters and his philosophical dictionary. i have a few other publications of voltaire's work that aren't viking penguin but have not yet compared the translations. i generally find, though, that viking penguin translations aren't that bad.
September 12, 2011
I recommend Candide in particular, the satirical story of a group of travelers fleeing war, and finding more and more senseless suffering as they go, accompanied by someone who seems to have pondered the problem of evil and come to the conclusion that this must be the best conceivable world as a result.
January 14, 2014
Great allegories, and short stories. I particularly like "Zadig" as a fictional character in one of Voltaire's allegories. I stopped at three stars solely because I rushed through the last quarter of the book do to a slight loss of interest, and interruption by another book I had on my list, and was a bit desperate to read, hehe.
June 16, 2007
If you like Kurt Vonnegut, read Voltaire! He's amazing! The philosophical dictionary is as hilarious as it is informative. All his fiction is great, but probably his best works are the lesser known ones.
November 14, 2011
Wittiness at its best! Voltaire could be categorized as the king of quick thinking and come backs. I enjoyed reading this book but my favorite section is the Philosophical Dictionary, which shows how clever he was and why people enjoyed his company at the court of Versailles.
March 31, 2013
Ah Voltaire. I found this in my room the other day. The front and back are still relabeled with a different title. After encouragement from my college friends, I changed it to the much more appropriate "The Wandering Voltaire".
October 22, 2014
Voltaire is funny. That is enough for me. He also has a critical eye that exposes absurdity and societal problems. Like Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary," the passages from "Selections..." are amazing nuggets of satirical craft that are a delight to read.
October 22, 2014
I remember picking this up at the university library and I had to take it home with me. Good stuff. Was not able to finish the entire thing though as I had to return it to the library. I haven't found a copy of that book anywhere...
June 13, 2015
What can one say. The man was way ahead of his time. His insight, his humor, his lifestyle were all apart from what we think of as the society in which he lived. Also recommend the biography by Davidson.
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