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Micromégas and Other Short Fictions
Something between a tale and a polemic, these "fables of reason" are feats of narrative compression and contain much of Voltaire's best and funniest writing. From ribald tales of adultery to conversations between cosmic travellers, the stories in this collection pose moral, philosophical and social questions. Reader and protagonist alike find their assumptions challenged as Voltaire mingles rationality and fantasy.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1752
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About the author
Voltaire
9,538 books5,074 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 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 11, 2019
Okay, I read a reference to Micromegas, so I hunted down this copy. That was a good essay, but by no means my favorite - there were some spectacular stories and essays in this collection - were they all written more than 250 years ago?
July 16, 2020
Witty, thought provoking and an easier read than I was expecting. More fun than I was expecting too.
July 11, 2022
Such a great read!!! I'm loving Voltaire's writings. I particularly loved this book of philosophical stories, and I plan to read more books by him. I highly recommend.
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March 20, 2026Rating: 5/5
Micromegas is a philosophical satire disguised as a sci-fi. Though the use of the concept of an outsider was much in vogue in fiction in his time, they mainly discussed Earthlings visiting remote places. In the novel, the main character comes from a distant planet that orbits the star named Sirius. Though apparently this book may read like a simple sci-fi story with a touch of humour here and there, I found layers of meaning hidden inside the plot. Micromegas, as per my understanding, is a satire that is to be understood in its specific political and philosophical context.
Before getting into the details, it might help to say a few things about the main character, Micromegas. He is enormous in size, ≈ 20.000 feet tall. The planet he comes from is vastly larger than Earth, with a circumference ≈ 21.600.000 times greater. The beings there also live much longer lives, and by the time Micromegas reached what would be considered the end of his childhood, he was already 450 years old. During that period, he wrote several controversial works on biological science, which eventually led to a trial that lasted 220 years and ended with him being exiled from the court for 800 years. All this is worth mentioning because the idea of proportion plays a key role throughout the story. Micromegas can be seen as an exaggerated version of a human being, but not in a random way. Everything about him is scaled carefully and meaningfully. Even his name “Micromégas” reflects this idea, suggesting that he is both small (micro) in comparison to some beings and large (megas) in comparison to others.
Micromegas is also portrayed as someone with an exceptionally broad range of knowledge. When he was younger, he spent a great deal of time studying entomology and even wrote a book on the subject. However, that work ended up causing him serious trouble. A mufti in his society, who was rather narrow-minded and overly anxious, he found certain ideas in the book to be questionable, offensive, and even heretical. And this led to Micromegas being put on trial. What makes the situation somewhat ironic is that the legal authorities who judged his case hadn't even read the book themselves, yet they still chose to condemn it and exile him. Funny enough when Micromegas later wrote a humorous piece making fun at that same mufti but it attracted very little attention. The whole beginning is somewhat similar to events in Voltaire's life (because of his conflicts with authority, he ended up being imprisoned twice and even spent some time in exile in England).
In the story, Micromegas appears to have a belief in a higher order, often referring to concepts like the “Author of Nature” or “Providence” in conversations with a Saturnian philosopher. As he travels, he observes that life on each planet seems to depend heavily on the planet’s size, with everything from the senses of its inhabitants to the properties of matter scaling up or down in proportion. He attributes this structured variation to Providence. Together with his Saturnian companion, he continues his journey, visiting places like Jupiter and eventually traveling an immense distance before reaching Mars, which they note has two moons. Those 2 moons - Phobos and Deimos, were not actually discovered until 1877. Hmm... interesting. Voltaire arrived at this idea simply through analogy, extending patterns he observed elsewhere rather than relying on direct evidence.
Despite being a possessor of great wisdom, he was receptive to new ideas. He travelled the universe with humility in his heart and a thirst for knowledge. Genial though he was in his manners, he detected vanity in the philosophers of Earth. When Micromegas hinted that life on Earth must be truly blissful, the philosophers disagreed and told him about 100.000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100.000 other animals wearing turbans, or being massacred by them. This is the historical reference of war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire over the access to the Black Sea.
The discussion eventually shifts to the idea of the soul, which, to me, feels like the most important part of the entire story. It actually helped me make more sense of how Micromegas ends. When the topic comes up, the philosophers quickly split into different groups, each backing a different thinker. Some refer to René Descartes, others to G.W Leibniz, while a few bring up John Locke. There is even an elderly philosopher who quotes Aristotle in the original Greek. Micromegas admits that he doesn’t really understand Greek, which leads to a slightly ironic moment when that philosopher responds that he doesn’t understand it either. And it makes Micromegas confused and asks why he would quote something he doesn’t even understand. Another philosopher then introduces the elaborate ideas of Thomas Aquinas, claiming that everything in existence: their people, their worlds, their suns, and their stars, was created solely for humanity. At this point, the travelers can’t help but laugh.
Before leaving, Micromegas promises to give them a philosophical book which is later taken to the Academy of Sciences in Paris. But when they opened it, turns out to contain nothing but blank pages. Because Micromegas understands that, aside from repeating the words of a few well-known thinkers, human beings haven’t really progressed much. That's why the blank book feels intentional. It’s almost as if he is encouraging humans to start afresh, to write their own books and develop their own ideas instead of just quoting and relying entirely on those philosophers in the past.
Micromegas is a philosophical satire disguised as a sci-fi. Though the use of the concept of an outsider was much in vogue in fiction in his time, they mainly discussed Earthlings visiting remote places. In the novel, the main character comes from a distant planet that orbits the star named Sirius. Though apparently this book may read like a simple sci-fi story with a touch of humour here and there, I found layers of meaning hidden inside the plot. Micromegas, as per my understanding, is a satire that is to be understood in its specific political and philosophical context.
Before getting into the details, it might help to say a few things about the main character, Micromegas. He is enormous in size, ≈ 20.000 feet tall. The planet he comes from is vastly larger than Earth, with a circumference ≈ 21.600.000 times greater. The beings there also live much longer lives, and by the time Micromegas reached what would be considered the end of his childhood, he was already 450 years old. During that period, he wrote several controversial works on biological science, which eventually led to a trial that lasted 220 years and ended with him being exiled from the court for 800 years. All this is worth mentioning because the idea of proportion plays a key role throughout the story. Micromegas can be seen as an exaggerated version of a human being, but not in a random way. Everything about him is scaled carefully and meaningfully. Even his name “Micromégas” reflects this idea, suggesting that he is both small (micro) in comparison to some beings and large (megas) in comparison to others.
Micromegas is also portrayed as someone with an exceptionally broad range of knowledge. When he was younger, he spent a great deal of time studying entomology and even wrote a book on the subject. However, that work ended up causing him serious trouble. A mufti in his society, who was rather narrow-minded and overly anxious, he found certain ideas in the book to be questionable, offensive, and even heretical. And this led to Micromegas being put on trial. What makes the situation somewhat ironic is that the legal authorities who judged his case hadn't even read the book themselves, yet they still chose to condemn it and exile him. Funny enough when Micromegas later wrote a humorous piece making fun at that same mufti but it attracted very little attention. The whole beginning is somewhat similar to events in Voltaire's life (because of his conflicts with authority, he ended up being imprisoned twice and even spent some time in exile in England).
In the story, Micromegas appears to have a belief in a higher order, often referring to concepts like the “Author of Nature” or “Providence” in conversations with a Saturnian philosopher. As he travels, he observes that life on each planet seems to depend heavily on the planet’s size, with everything from the senses of its inhabitants to the properties of matter scaling up or down in proportion. He attributes this structured variation to Providence. Together with his Saturnian companion, he continues his journey, visiting places like Jupiter and eventually traveling an immense distance before reaching Mars, which they note has two moons. Those 2 moons - Phobos and Deimos, were not actually discovered until 1877. Hmm... interesting. Voltaire arrived at this idea simply through analogy, extending patterns he observed elsewhere rather than relying on direct evidence.
Despite being a possessor of great wisdom, he was receptive to new ideas. He travelled the universe with humility in his heart and a thirst for knowledge. Genial though he was in his manners, he detected vanity in the philosophers of Earth. When Micromegas hinted that life on Earth must be truly blissful, the philosophers disagreed and told him about 100.000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100.000 other animals wearing turbans, or being massacred by them. This is the historical reference of war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire over the access to the Black Sea.
The discussion eventually shifts to the idea of the soul, which, to me, feels like the most important part of the entire story. It actually helped me make more sense of how Micromegas ends. When the topic comes up, the philosophers quickly split into different groups, each backing a different thinker. Some refer to René Descartes, others to G.W Leibniz, while a few bring up John Locke. There is even an elderly philosopher who quotes Aristotle in the original Greek. Micromegas admits that he doesn’t really understand Greek, which leads to a slightly ironic moment when that philosopher responds that he doesn’t understand it either. And it makes Micromegas confused and asks why he would quote something he doesn’t even understand. Another philosopher then introduces the elaborate ideas of Thomas Aquinas, claiming that everything in existence: their people, their worlds, their suns, and their stars, was created solely for humanity. At this point, the travelers can’t help but laugh.
Before leaving, Micromegas promises to give them a philosophical book which is later taken to the Academy of Sciences in Paris. But when they opened it, turns out to contain nothing but blank pages. Because Micromegas understands that, aside from repeating the words of a few well-known thinkers, human beings haven’t really progressed much. That's why the blank book feels intentional. It’s almost as if he is encouraging humans to start afresh, to write their own books and develop their own ideas instead of just quoting and relying entirely on those philosophers in the past.
March 21, 2007
There's a reason Micromegas is not as well known as Candide. Although a funny story, it lacks the oomph of the latter. Candide was an attack an a very popular philosophy whereas Micromegas is a broader satire.
However the stories found in this collection are still very funny and Micromegas DOES remain one of the earliest forms of science fiction written in the west. The story is in the form of Swift's earlier and more popular Gulliver's Travels, but it manages to satirize even that novel.
However the stories found in this collection are still very funny and Micromegas DOES remain one of the earliest forms of science fiction written in the west. The story is in the form of Swift's earlier and more popular Gulliver's Travels, but it manages to satirize even that novel.
March 5, 2019
These witticisms on women, philosophy, the universe and religion were entertaining and enlightening.
April 1, 2025
- ისევ შავებით? - როგორც ყოველთვის
პაიკი G3
- იცი, ვოლტერი ამბობდა, ყველა ადამიანი იმ სიკეთისთვის არის დამნაშავე, რომელიც არ გააკეთაო.
კუ G2
- ამიტომ, მოდი ერთ სიკეთეს კიდევ გავაკეთებ და ხუთ სვლაში არ მოგიგებ.
მხედარი E6
- იცი კიდევ რას ამბობდა ვოლტერი?
არასდროს გააღმერთო ბავშვი თორემ გაიზრდება და თაყვანისცემას მოგთხოვსო.
O - O
- ამიტომ, ისევ მოგიწევს ტვინის განძრევა და ჩემი დაცვის გარღვევა. ჩემგან დანდობას არ ელოდო.
პაიკი D5
- შენი აზრით, რომელი ფიგურა იქნებოდა ვოლტერი?
პაიკი E6
- მხედარი...
მხედარი C6
- რატომ?
კუ D7
- იმიტომ, რომ სხვებისგან განსხვავებით სწორხაზოვნად არ მოძრაობს
...
წავაგე, წავაგე 23-ედ და საბოლოოდ.
ანგარიში 23-21
...
ზუსტად მისი წასვლის დღეს დაანონსდა ამ წიგნის გამოცემა, სიმბოლურად.
საჭადრაკო დაფაზე დავრჩით მხოლოდ მე - კუთხეში მდგომი პაიკი, რომელიც მანამ არ იძვირს, სანამ ყველა ფიგურა არ დაიძვრება და ვოლტერი - ულაგმო მხედარი, რომელმაც უნდა გაკვალოს გზა დაფის კიდემდე.
როცა ფონს გავალ, არ მინდა გავხდე არც ლაზიერი, არც ეტლი და არც კუ, მხოლოდ მხედარი, თუნდაც ლაგამით.
და ჰო, ისევ გადმოვიღებ შენს ძველ, მტვრით დაფარულ დაფას და გავაგრძელებ შენთან წარმოსახვით თამაშს. ყველა შენი სვლა ზეპირად ვიცი... და მაინც წავაგებ.
- ისევ შავებით? - როგორც ყოველთვის.
პაიკი G3
- იცი, ვოლტერი ამბობდა, ყველა ადამიანი იმ სიკეთისთვის არის დამნაშავე, რომელიც არ გააკეთაო.
კუ G2
- ამიტომ, მოდი ერთ სიკეთეს კიდევ გავაკეთებ და ხუთ სვლაში არ მოგიგებ.
მხედარი E6
- იცი კიდევ რას ამბობდა ვოლტერი?
არასდროს გააღმერთო ბავშვი თორემ გაიზრდება და თაყვანისცემას მოგთხოვსო.
O - O
- ამიტომ, ისევ მოგიწევს ტვინის განძრევა და ჩემი დაცვის გარღვევა. ჩემგან დანდობას არ ელოდო.
პაიკი D5
- შენი აზრით, რომელი ფიგურა იქნებოდა ვოლტერი?
პაიკი E6
- მხედარი...
მხედარი C6
- რატომ?
კუ D7
- იმიტომ, რომ სხვებისგან განსხვავებით სწორხაზოვნად არ მოძრაობს
...
წავაგე, წავაგე 23-ედ და საბოლოოდ.
ანგარიში 23-21
...
ზუსტად მისი წასვლის დღეს დაანონსდა ამ წიგნის გამოცემა, სიმბოლურად.
საჭადრაკო დაფაზე დავრჩით მხოლოდ მე - კუთხეში მდგომი პაიკი, რომელიც მანამ არ იძვირს, სანამ ყველა ფიგურა არ დაიძვრება და ვოლტერი - ულაგმო მხედარი, რომელმაც უნდა გაკვალოს გზა დაფის კიდემდე.
როცა ფონს გავალ, არ მინდა გავხდე არც ლაზიერი, არც ეტლი და არც კუ, მხოლოდ მხედარი, თუნდაც ლაგამით.
და ჰო, ისევ გადმოვიღებ შენს ძველ, მტვრით დაფარულ დაფას და გავაგრძელებ შენთან წარმოსახვით თამაშს. ყველა შენი სვლა ზეპირად ვიცი... და მაინც წავაგებ.
- ისევ შავებით? - როგორც ყოველთვის.
Read
August 20, 2025The edition I read seems to be different from the one listed on Goodreads (and I even looked it up by ISBN!) - mine contained some different stories. The main point is that I read the title one mainly for research for another story I may end up working on, but then decided to read the other three in the collection for the hell of it. I do wish that title story got developed for a little longer than its meager 30 pages - but I guess that'll be part of the inspiration for my future work.
Read
April 25, 2020Wise & humorous--a lot that I don't understand, so will shelve for a future re-read.
June 26, 2020
honestly not my favourite dude
October 26, 2020
toilet 🚽 humour at the church’s expense
the 2 chickens 🐓 are the best
the 2 chickens 🐓 are the best
October 13, 2022
Wanted to love this so much more than I ended up.
Over all i enjoyed the tone and style but I felt that there wasn't a whole lot a room for artistic liberties past the satire.
Over all i enjoyed the tone and style but I felt that there wasn't a whole lot a room for artistic liberties past the satire.
August 13, 2023
Nuuuul ! Beaucoup trop moralisateur et compliqué. Perte de temps ...
February 18, 2025
Incroyable
La dernière fois que j'ai eu l'occasion de lire voltaire remonte a déjà bien des années, et je vais définitivement m'y replonger
La dernière fois que j'ai eu l'occasion de lire voltaire remonte a déjà bien des années, et je vais définitivement m'y replonger
May 19, 2025
ces contes philosophiques sont toujours aussi efficaces
November 26, 2025
cheeky 😼
November 8, 2016
Some people on this app labeled Candide as dated and thus, out of touch with the current character of this age. I wholeheartedly disagreed and argued the timeless nature of the work. Had they argued that some of the fictions in this book were the case I would have still argued against them, but not as wholeheartedly. As an anthology this is book is great. Voltaire is incredibly easy to read, profound and cuts to the bone. But because it is an anthology there are better and worse stories in it. Some of the stories demand you read the footnotes, while others can be simply enjoyed free of historical context.
Pot-Pouri and the Account of the illness, confession, death and apparition of the Jesuit Berthier necessitate a glance back at the footnotes. Without reading the footnotes Pot-Pouri reads a bit like surrealist fiction (I'm not entirely convinced it isn't). Micromégas and the History of the travels of Scarmentado can just stand alone as humorous satire without demanding one know exactly what is being satirized. If you like Candide, you'll enjoy this. If you love Candide (as I do), you'll really enjoy this. If you don't like Candide, you're wrong.
Pot-Pouri and the Account of the illness, confession, death and apparition of the Jesuit Berthier necessitate a glance back at the footnotes. Without reading the footnotes Pot-Pouri reads a bit like surrealist fiction (I'm not entirely convinced it isn't). Micromégas and the History of the travels of Scarmentado can just stand alone as humorous satire without demanding one know exactly what is being satirized. If you like Candide, you'll enjoy this. If you love Candide (as I do), you'll really enjoy this. If you don't like Candide, you're wrong.
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March 3, 2011just remembered i'd read this! pure awesome sauce yeah! huh? and yeah the books pretty cool too......hmmm not sure why i said that but seriously yeah the book is awesome, Micromegas in particular and the one about the one eyed man who only sees/perceives good things, which are often at odds with what the reality is rather than simply being a positive spin on it.
July 27, 2011
DRÔLE!!!!
November 18, 2018
I only read a few of these, but I was bored. The man sounds very bitter. I couldn't read it anymore. I'll try one of his other works.
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