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MICROMEGAS
Book by Voltaire
100 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1752
161 people are currently reading
5323 people want to read
About the author
Voltaire
9,416 books4,937 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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January 10, 2023
قصص بسيطة تدور حول الحكمة التي ينشدها كل الناس و منظومة القيم التي تحكم البشر و نظرة كل منا لنفسه و غيره. كالعادة فولتير يحاكي قصص ألف ليلة و ليلة عذوبة و بساطة و متعة
القصة الأولى عن مسافر عبر الفضاء من كوكب ضخم يزور مجموعتنا الشمسية و يبدو عملاقا حتى مقارنة بسكان المشتري
أما الثانية فعن الروح و الجسد
و الثالثة عن الإخلاص حين نظن أننا مخلصين فقط لأن الله لم يلق بنا في التجربة
و الأخيرة عن الحكمة و الشهوة
المجموعة بالكامل تقع في خمس و ثلاثين صفحة
و متاحة للتحميل المجاني من مؤسسة هنداوي
القصة الأولى عن مسافر عبر الفضاء من كوكب ضخم يزور مجموعتنا الشمسية و يبدو عملاقا حتى مقارنة بسكان المشتري
أما الثانية فعن الروح و الجسد
و الثالثة عن الإخلاص حين نظن أننا مخلصين فقط لأن الله لم يلق بنا في التجربة
و الأخيرة عن الحكمة و الشهوة
المجموعة بالكامل تقع في خمس و ثلاثين صفحة
و متاحة للتحميل المجاني من مؤسسة هنداوي
August 23, 2023
- اربع قصص قصيرة من منظور فلسفي مبسّط.
- الترجمة رائعة، واللغة راقية جداً.
- القصة الأولى ذات معانٍ كثيرة، وتستعرض العديد من النظريات الفلسفية من زرادشت الى ارسطو الى ديكارت... ونهايتها كانت ممتازة بالكتاب الأبيض، والإسقاطات الوضعية اتت مميزة خصوصاً عند استعراض الأعمار للعمالقة ونسبة معرفتهم النسبية للكون ومن ثم المقارنة مع حشرة (الإنسان) وادعاءاته.
القصص الثلاث الاخرى جيدة وتستحق القراءة.
- الترجمة رائعة، واللغة راقية جداً.
- القصة الأولى ذات معانٍ كثيرة، وتستعرض العديد من النظريات الفلسفية من زرادشت الى ارسطو الى ديكارت... ونهايتها كانت ممتازة بالكتاب الأبيض، والإسقاطات الوضعية اتت مميزة خصوصاً عند استعراض الأعمار للعمالقة ونسبة معرفتهم النسبية للكون ومن ثم المقارنة مع حشرة (الإنسان) وادعاءاته.
القصص الثلاث الاخرى جيدة وتستحق القراءة.
December 6, 2020
LETTER to my favorite TEACHER
Dear Mrs. Flick:
I love reading long long books. This one is Gera's favorite and his worldview stems from it: a very short but meaty metaphysical poem. Well, it reads like a poem (since I think short stories are more related to them than to actual novels). Without a doubt the one effect it has on the reader is (because everyone that has the chance to read it will surely feel the same way:) dumbfoundment at the scale of things--especially our relationship to the enormous globe. In less than twenty pages, Voltaire shows our insignificance, presents it so beautifully and with such majesty (which is of paramount importance when undertaking the difficult task of building something completely outside of ourselves). This is why YOU MUST MAKE YOUR STUDENTS GET THEIR HANDS ON THIS, or BETTER YET, MAKE THEM READ MICROMEGAS, a REQUIREMENT. Only to teach humility; only to expand their acknowledgement of the entire world in relation to their own personal journeys. It is a lesson that no one learns too soon: we are but spots, maybe a parasitic disease upon the earth. MEDIOCRITY AND ITS ACCEPTANCE OF IT MUST BE STOPPED!!!
This work could be very well forgotten. MAKE THE KIDS READ IT!! (It would take but less than one whole school period!) When MICROMEGAS falsely labels the earth as the "World of the whales" is probably the most masterful touch in this work of art. Encourage your students to pinpoint when their life-view is completely altered by this.
Yours,
Fabian M.
Dear Mrs. Flick:
I love reading long long books. This one is Gera's favorite and his worldview stems from it: a very short but meaty metaphysical poem. Well, it reads like a poem (since I think short stories are more related to them than to actual novels). Without a doubt the one effect it has on the reader is (because everyone that has the chance to read it will surely feel the same way:) dumbfoundment at the scale of things--especially our relationship to the enormous globe. In less than twenty pages, Voltaire shows our insignificance, presents it so beautifully and with such majesty (which is of paramount importance when undertaking the difficult task of building something completely outside of ourselves). This is why YOU MUST MAKE YOUR STUDENTS GET THEIR HANDS ON THIS, or BETTER YET, MAKE THEM READ MICROMEGAS, a REQUIREMENT. Only to teach humility; only to expand their acknowledgement of the entire world in relation to their own personal journeys. It is a lesson that no one learns too soon: we are but spots, maybe a parasitic disease upon the earth. MEDIOCRITY AND ITS ACCEPTANCE OF IT MUST BE STOPPED!!!
This work could be very well forgotten. MAKE THE KIDS READ IT!! (It would take but less than one whole school period!) When MICROMEGAS falsely labels the earth as the "World of the whales" is probably the most masterful touch in this work of art. Encourage your students to pinpoint when their life-view is completely altered by this.
Yours,
Fabian M.
September 28, 2020
My first Voltaire. I had such a good time with this short story. Science fiction before I knew anyone was writing science fiction and a lot of clever satire. Sophisticated and imaginative and entertaining. Voltaire takes aim at a lot of philosophers and others and the dialogue is very funny. I laughed out loud reading most of the few pages.
I learned about this story in a nonfiction book about Mars. How wonderful that you never know what you'll run across in a book. On to Candide soon and if all his writing is this clever and spot-on, want to read everything Voltaire has written.
.
I learned about this story in a nonfiction book about Mars. How wonderful that you never know what you'll run across in a book. On to Candide soon and if all his writing is this clever and spot-on, want to read everything Voltaire has written.
.
May 24, 2022
Algo de surrealismo, viajes planetarios, gigantes, conversaciones y mucha filosofía.
May 28, 2019
This, for me, is a perfect little book—part science-fiction, part philosophy, and all wit.
I confess that I have always been somewhat lukewarm towards the more famous Candide, perhaps because that book pokes fun at an idea that I have never believed nor even taken seriously—namely, that we live in the best of all possible worlds. But this book explores an idea which I have often contemplated: the smallness of our species in the universe.
In a way, the idea is not very sensible, since size is a relative term, and in any case physical size has nothing to do with importance. Nevertheless, when you look out of a plane window or down a skyscraper, and marvel at the almost comical smallness of buildings, cars, and people, it is an irresistible thought—that all of the things we concern ourselves with are ultimately without consequence.
One can perhaps see this book as a farcical precursor to Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, which uses science rather than wit to emphasis our littleness. Both books come to the same point: we do not know far more than we know, we cover our ignorance with myths and theories, and we fight and kill one another for absolute trivialities. As one of the book’s philosopher says, “Did you know, for example, that as I am speaking with you, there are 100,000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100,00 other animals wearing turbans, or being massacred by them, and that we have used almost the whole surface of the Earth for this purpose since time immemorial?”
The final message of the book is rather bleak and even nihilistic, if lightened by Voltaire’s humor: that humanity is vanishingly unimportant. This is not exactly good philosophy, nor is it even necessarily good moralizing, since if nothing means anything we might as well do what we want. However, this “cosmic” perspective can, I think, be used to moderate ourselves: as a timely reminder of our ultimate ignorance and of our ultimate insignificance. It can at least help us to take ourselves a little less seriously. And, as Betrand Russell observed of Spinoza’s cosmic philosophy:
I confess that I have always been somewhat lukewarm towards the more famous Candide, perhaps because that book pokes fun at an idea that I have never believed nor even taken seriously—namely, that we live in the best of all possible worlds. But this book explores an idea which I have often contemplated: the smallness of our species in the universe.
In a way, the idea is not very sensible, since size is a relative term, and in any case physical size has nothing to do with importance. Nevertheless, when you look out of a plane window or down a skyscraper, and marvel at the almost comical smallness of buildings, cars, and people, it is an irresistible thought—that all of the things we concern ourselves with are ultimately without consequence.
One can perhaps see this book as a farcical precursor to Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, which uses science rather than wit to emphasis our littleness. Both books come to the same point: we do not know far more than we know, we cover our ignorance with myths and theories, and we fight and kill one another for absolute trivialities. As one of the book’s philosopher says, “Did you know, for example, that as I am speaking with you, there are 100,000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100,00 other animals wearing turbans, or being massacred by them, and that we have used almost the whole surface of the Earth for this purpose since time immemorial?”
The final message of the book is rather bleak and even nihilistic, if lightened by Voltaire’s humor: that humanity is vanishingly unimportant. This is not exactly good philosophy, nor is it even necessarily good moralizing, since if nothing means anything we might as well do what we want. However, this “cosmic” perspective can, I think, be used to moderate ourselves: as a timely reminder of our ultimate ignorance and of our ultimate insignificance. It can at least help us to take ourselves a little less seriously. And, as Betrand Russell observed of Spinoza’s cosmic philosophy:
There are even times when it is comforting to reflect that human life, with all that it contains of evil and suffering, is an infinitesimal part of the life of the universe. Such reflections may not suffice to constitute a religion, but in a painful world they are a help towards sanity and an antidote to the paralysis of utter despair.
April 10, 2023
Loving my adventure with browsing books od specific themes trough the ebook series "3 books to know..". This time I read this from an Alien invasion collection. Some of this, like the explaining of heights and other went completely over my head. But I definitely enjoyed this slightly quirky version of aliens and the depictions of human and human being the ones who is observed.
February 21, 2017
18th century SF. :) Gotta love it just for that.
Otherwise, my estimation of Voltaire continues to rise! I always loved his stuff before and while this doesn't have quite the social impact that something like Candide had, it certainly puts the rod to the church with its "blow your mind" idea of turning all us ants into something even more insignificant. :)
I see your enormous cathedral and raise you a thousand-league footprint. :)
Short and sweet and so scientific... these giants are giants of erudition and learning! Of course, they laugh at the idea that us little ants mean crap because we only live for mere dozens of years while they live for thousands. I mean, seriously.
Very impressive for its time and message. I know it's not entirely all about SF but it IS still an SF tale and one of the very first.
I'm so glad that Ada Palmer turned me on to it. :)
Otherwise, my estimation of Voltaire continues to rise! I always loved his stuff before and while this doesn't have quite the social impact that something like Candide had, it certainly puts the rod to the church with its "blow your mind" idea of turning all us ants into something even more insignificant. :)
I see your enormous cathedral and raise you a thousand-league footprint. :)
Short and sweet and so scientific... these giants are giants of erudition and learning! Of course, they laugh at the idea that us little ants mean crap because we only live for mere dozens of years while they live for thousands. I mean, seriously.
Very impressive for its time and message. I know it's not entirely all about SF but it IS still an SF tale and one of the very first.
I'm so glad that Ada Palmer turned me on to it. :)
July 25, 2016
"وقد ساءه في أعماق نفسه أن يرى في المتناهين في الصغر عجرفة متناهية في الكبر."
على الرغم من دراستي لأدب فولتير في الجامعة، إلّا أن هذا هو لقائي الأول برائد عصر التنوير الفرنسي، صاحب الأسلوب الساخر..
في هذه المجموعة القصصية الصغيرة الخفيفة، يناقش فولتير في القصة الأولى (ميكروميغاس) التّكبر والاستعلاء عند بني الإنسان، فهم يظنون أنهم محور هذا العالم، ويعرفون كل ما هبّ ودبّ فيهم، وينسون أنهم كائنات صغيرة جداً يعيشون على كرة صغيرة سابحة في كون مترامي الأطراف! فيالغرور بني الإنسان!
القصة الثانية (ممنون) يناقش فيها الحكمة الكاملة، فيدفع الإنسان حياته في سبيل الوصول للكمال الإنساني الذي لا وجود له..
القصة الثالثة (الزوجة المخلصة) ينتقد فيها الزوجات المنافقات اللواتي يتظاهرن بعشق أزواجهم وحالما يُصاب هؤلاء الأزواج بأذى أو توافيهم المنيّة، يسارعن إلى الارتماء في أحضان العريس المُرتقب.
القصة الرابعة (سيزوستريس) يناقش فيها مسألة سلطة الحُب والشهوة والمجد.. وكيف يلهث الإنسان الطمّاع الجشع وراءها.
ممتعة، مسليّة وعميقة جداً على الرغم من صغر حجمها.
....
June 11, 2021
Wow, Voltaire very beautifully shows in this short story how ridiculously insignificant we are; infinitesimal fleeting beings with insanely great prides.
update: rereading this in 2021. Wow. what indeed a beautiful read. what still stands out for me is the way “creatures” -just to be generic- tend to focus on what’s out of their reach, and often trivialize what they cannot comprehend. the way we’re infinitesimal and appear to be limited however are also powerful, frivolous and unapologetically arrogant that we’d kill each other over a piece of land.
it is super fun seeing how micromegas and the dwarf from Saturn listed down their robust attributes however felt extremely minute the moment they were challenged by the animalcules or the atoms that are humans, that despite their insignificance proved to have ideas, and understandings that extended to metaphysics.
"وحملها الإنسان إنه كان ظلومًا جهولًا".
update: rereading this in 2021. Wow. what indeed a beautiful read. what still stands out for me is the way “creatures” -just to be generic- tend to focus on what’s out of their reach, and often trivialize what they cannot comprehend. the way we’re infinitesimal and appear to be limited however are also powerful, frivolous and unapologetically arrogant that we’d kill each other over a piece of land.
it is super fun seeing how micromegas and the dwarf from Saturn listed down their robust attributes however felt extremely minute the moment they were challenged by the animalcules or the atoms that are humans, that despite their insignificance proved to have ideas, and understandings that extended to metaphysics.
"وحملها الإنسان إنه كان ظلومًا جهولًا".
June 20, 2020
A very bizarre three stars. I love Voltaire and on some things his mind can cut like a razor—- ow! He said many things that do make so much sense to me. Some of his intelligence and wit are immortalized in my most favorite of quotes; but I gotta say— this one is unique. So I’m going for middle ground.
The narrator is the bomb though.
The narrator is the bomb though.
February 9, 2020
Voltaire exposes all the conceits of humanity in about 30 pages...and makes you laugh while he does it.
February 15, 2017
3.5
"I see more than ever that one must not judge anything by its apparent size."
A being from a planet circling the star Sirius visits the Earth with his companion from the planet Saturn, both of gargantuan size. This scifi short story deals with perception and point of view, but also allowed the philosopher Voltaire to comment on his contemporary society.
Amazing to think it was written so long ago.
"I see more than ever that one must not judge anything by its apparent size."
A being from a planet circling the star Sirius visits the Earth with his companion from the planet Saturn, both of gargantuan size. This scifi short story deals with perception and point of view, but also allowed the philosopher Voltaire to comment on his contemporary society.
Amazing to think it was written so long ago.
March 19, 2020
Βαθμολογία: 7/10
Πρόκειται για μια ωραία και ευχάριστη φιλοσοφική περιπέτεια επιστημονικής φαντασίας, με έξυπνο χιούμορ και μια κάποια ειρωνική διάθεση, που καταφέρνει μέσα σε λίγες σελίδες να θίξει ορισμένα ενδιαφέροντα ζητήματα, και επιπλέον να δώσει αρκετή τροφή για σκέψη. Βέβαια, δεν τα γλιτώνει τα τρία αστεράκια στο Goodreads τελικά (δεν μπορώ να βάλω τριάμισι), γιατί δεν με συγκλόνισε κιόλας, αλλά πάντως πέρασα καλά.
Πρόκειται για μια ωραία και ευχάριστη φιλοσοφική περιπέτεια επιστημονικής φαντασίας, με έξυπνο χιούμορ και μια κάποια ειρωνική διάθεση, που καταφέρνει μέσα σε λίγες σελίδες να θίξει ορισμένα ενδιαφέροντα ζητήματα, και επιπλέον να δώσει αρκετή τροφή για σκέψη. Βέβαια, δεν τα γλιτώνει τα τρία αστεράκια στο Goodreads τελικά (δεν μπορώ να βάλω τριάμισι), γιατί δεν με συγκλόνισε κιόλας, αλλά πάντως πέρασα καλά.
April 30, 2022
(Continuing to edit)
When reading other reviews online--not highly literate ones, not highly technical ones--ones I can understand, I admit--I find that this conté or tale is often called "philosophical science fiction". I argue that the tale is truly science fiction.
Before science as we know it with evermore information, criteria, and specialization, there was natural philosophy. For me this assertion is on something more than complete abstraction.
* In The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (first published 1956) edited by Fritz Stern, Sterne or one of the writers of the essays he compiled/edited talked about how philosophy, literature, and history did not make a clear divide until sometime in the 19th century. Natural philosophy would be one of the philosophies indicated in that concept. Spiritual philosophy/divinity/theology would also be included.
* In the late 1990s and early 2000s there was an effort to reunite human thought and understanding. It seems to have been a failed effort. I have not read or heard of any dialogue about that effort for 20 years. We have completely lost the thought-thread that holds all our information together.
But once we knew. Voltaire knew. His contemporary readers did too.
So what does this old-time science called natural philosophy look like? And what is this science/natural philosophy used in Micromegas?
I once bought a natural science book at the local used bookstore Thriftbooks for a very few dollars. I recognized it as the type of questions my scientific-minded young son asked. Here are the types of questions he asked and this book answered: What is the nature of ----? Tell me again how ----- works. No complicated answers, just answers that I his mother with my good basic education could understand and explain to a young child. We would go to the library to get more specialized information when my done needed more answers.
Notice that Voltaire is asking about the nature of things. He needs to categorize people, creatures, and other things he encounters. This is more or less like our scientific categorization.
Categorization is never stable. What the narrator talks about has changeability and fluidity, as we expect of the scientific process and what we expect a work of science fiction even of the older works such as Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. which also is largely philosophical, considering social and political philosophy. Or such as Frankenstein: The 1818 Text which can also be understood as being largely philosophical, considering medical phiosophy.
The narrator notices and understands somethings and not others. But then people never really appreciate what they have. This is true of Micromegas himself not quite appreciating some of the greatest of this time, including a natural philosopher. So people miscategorize, misunderstand, misjudge--and recategorize, relearn, reassess. The narrator reaches that insight about others. In the usual way of things, in time Micromegas will recognize it of himself long after the tale ends.
We the readers get to philosophize too on the nature of Micromegas as he is so complex. We--or I--would like to make sense of Micromegas. But he is difficult to categorize. . . . Ahh is tale is written by Voltaire for what oh what is he satirizing? My desire to come to neat conclusion about this tale. . . . Oh that cannot be. . . .I can only get a glimmer of his irony , humor directed at his readers. Ahh Voltaire, you got me.
When reading other reviews online--not highly literate ones, not highly technical ones--ones I can understand, I admit--I find that this conté or tale is often called "philosophical science fiction". I argue that the tale is truly science fiction.
Before science as we know it with evermore information, criteria, and specialization, there was natural philosophy. For me this assertion is on something more than complete abstraction.
* In The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (first published 1956) edited by Fritz Stern, Sterne or one of the writers of the essays he compiled/edited talked about how philosophy, literature, and history did not make a clear divide until sometime in the 19th century. Natural philosophy would be one of the philosophies indicated in that concept. Spiritual philosophy/divinity/theology would also be included.
* In the late 1990s and early 2000s there was an effort to reunite human thought and understanding. It seems to have been a failed effort. I have not read or heard of any dialogue about that effort for 20 years. We have completely lost the thought-thread that holds all our information together.
But once we knew. Voltaire knew. His contemporary readers did too.
So what does this old-time science called natural philosophy look like? And what is this science/natural philosophy used in Micromegas?
I once bought a natural science book at the local used bookstore Thriftbooks for a very few dollars. I recognized it as the type of questions my scientific-minded young son asked. Here are the types of questions he asked and this book answered: What is the nature of ----? Tell me again how ----- works. No complicated answers, just answers that I his mother with my good basic education could understand and explain to a young child. We would go to the library to get more specialized information when my done needed more answers.
Notice that Voltaire is asking about the nature of things. He needs to categorize people, creatures, and other things he encounters. This is more or less like our scientific categorization.
Categorization is never stable. What the narrator talks about has changeability and fluidity, as we expect of the scientific process and what we expect a work of science fiction even of the older works such as Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. which also is largely philosophical, considering social and political philosophy. Or such as Frankenstein: The 1818 Text which can also be understood as being largely philosophical, considering medical phiosophy.
The narrator notices and understands somethings and not others. But then people never really appreciate what they have. This is true of Micromegas himself not quite appreciating some of the greatest of this time, including a natural philosopher. So people miscategorize, misunderstand, misjudge--and recategorize, relearn, reassess. The narrator reaches that insight about others. In the usual way of things, in time Micromegas will recognize it of himself long after the tale ends.
We the readers get to philosophize too on the nature of Micromegas as he is so complex. We--or I--would like to make sense of Micromegas. But he is difficult to categorize. . . . Ahh is tale is written by Voltaire for what oh what is he satirizing? My desire to come to neat conclusion about this tale. . . . Oh that cannot be. . . .I can only get a glimmer of his irony , humor directed at his readers. Ahh Voltaire, you got me.
Read
January 19, 2022
...ama çok iyi bilirsiniz ki, bedenin unsurlarına ayrışarak, bir başka biçim altında doğayı canlandırması gerektiğinde, buna ölüm denir, bu başkalaşım anı geldiğinde, sonsuz uzun yaşamakla, bir gün yaşamak arasında hiçbir fark kalmaz."
(s.16)
Ölüm'ü bundan daha bilgece anlatan hiçbir şey okumadım! 1694 yılında doğan Voltaire, size de acaba bende olduğu gibi; sanki günümüzden geçmişe yolculuk yapmış bir insan gibi gelmiyor mu? Zamanının gelişmeleri, olayları onun için öyle saçma ki; adeta bütün dünyayı köşesinden kahkaha atarak izliyor gibi.
Bu sivri dili yüzünden hapis dahi yatmış olsa da; okurken o kadar çok eğleniyorum ki.
Örnek vereyim:
"İsfahan'a vardığımda kara koyunun mu ak koyunun mu tarafını tuttuğumu sordular. Etinin yumuşak olması şartıyla benim için fark etmeyeceğini söyledim. İranlıların o sıralar Akkoyunlu ve Karakoyunlu diye ikiye ayrıldığını bilmek gerekiyordu. İki tarafla da alay edildiğim sanıldı." (s.53)
Fransız Devrimi'ni en çok etkileyen isimlerden birisi olan Voltaire aynı zamanda dönemin geri kafalı pek çok uygulamalarının da amansız düşmanı. Zaten bu kitapta da bunun örneklerini satır aralarında okuyabilirsiniz.
2008 yılında Candide ile iyimserliği alaşağı eden; insanın yüzüne tokat gibi inen kitabıyla tanışmıştım. Bundan beş yıl sonra 2013'te de Zadig ile yeniden ziyaretine gittiğim Voltaire'i ile 4 yıl sonra tekrar bu satırlarla okumak beni tekrar o duygulara götürdü.
Micromegas'a dönelim. Bu uzun öykü Jonathan Swift'in 1726 yılında tamamladığı Gulliver'in Gezileri'nden yaklaşık 26 yıl sonra yazılmış, insan merkezci algıyı derinden sarsacak denli güçlü bir satirik eser. Bu eserinde hicvini daha çok insanın kendisini çok önemli bulması üzerinde yapmış;
"Dünyayı ellerinde tutabilen ve organlarının orantısı bizimkiyle aynı olan bir madde biçimi tasavvur ediniz, üstelik bu maddeden pekala çok sayıda bulunabilir. Bu durumda, daha sonra kaybetmek zorunda kalacağımız iki köy kazanmak için girdiğimiz şu savaşlar hakkında bu varlıkların ne düşüneceğini lütfen bir düşünün." (s.28)
Devasa canlıların, atom boyutundaki insanları incelediğini düşündüğümüzde, girdiğimiz savaşların, yaşadığımız çoğu şeyin ne kadar anlamsız olacağını hayal edin. İşte Voltaire bu eserinde en çok bu konuyu vurgulamak istemiş. Swift'in (henüz okuma şerefine nail olamadığım lakin konu olarak bildiğim) Gulliver'in Gezileri kitabında olduğu gibi ölçüleri astronomik farklılıkları olan insanları karşılaştırırken belki fark etmeden çağdaş bilim kurgunun ilk ve güçlü örneklerinden birini ortaya çıkarmış. Bu kitapta yine çağdaş bilim kurgunun ilk örneklerinden birisi kabul edilen Platon'un Düşü de bulunuyor. Bu eser, hafızam beni yanıltmıyor ise Platon'un Symposium'undaki insanın çift nitelikli olduğu yönündeki diyaloguna gönderme yaparak başlar. Kısacık olmasına rağmen Candide kitabında da ortaya atacağı fikirlerin nüvelerini barındırmaktadır.
Yukarıda mizahi yönünü örnek verdiğim metnin de geçtiği Scarmentado'nun Seyahatlerinin Öyküsü sanki Candide kitabında ortaya koyacağı fikirlerin nüvelerini oluşturabilecek mesajlar içeren bir diğer öyküsü. Bu konuyu detaylıca araştırmadım ama bu iki öykü Candide için bir ön hazırlık olabilir.
Kısacası, Voltaire; benim için adeta bir zaman yolcusudur. Çağının absürtlüklerini öyle ustaca bir dille hicveder ki sanki çağından çok öteye aittir o, bugüne ve yarına aittir.
M.B.
Ölüm'ü bundan daha bilgece anlatan hiçbir şey okumadım! 1694 yılında doğan Voltaire, size de acaba bende olduğu gibi; sanki günümüzden geçmişe yolculuk yapmış bir insan gibi gelmiyor mu? Zamanının gelişmeleri, olayları onun için öyle saçma ki; adeta bütün dünyayı köşesinden kahkaha atarak izliyor gibi.
Bu sivri dili yüzünden hapis dahi yatmış olsa da; okurken o kadar çok eğleniyorum ki.
Örnek vereyim:
"İsfahan'a vardığımda kara koyunun mu ak koyunun mu tarafını tuttuğumu sordular. Etinin yumuşak olması şartıyla benim için fark etmeyeceğini söyledim. İranlıların o sıralar Akkoyunlu ve Karakoyunlu diye ikiye ayrıldığını bilmek gerekiyordu. İki tarafla da alay edildiğim sanıldı." (s.53)
Fransız Devrimi'ni en çok etkileyen isimlerden birisi olan Voltaire aynı zamanda dönemin geri kafalı pek çok uygulamalarının da amansız düşmanı. Zaten bu kitapta da bunun örneklerini satır aralarında okuyabilirsiniz.
2008 yılında Candide ile iyimserliği alaşağı eden; insanın yüzüne tokat gibi inen kitabıyla tanışmıştım. Bundan beş yıl sonra 2013'te de Zadig ile yeniden ziyaretine gittiğim Voltaire'i ile 4 yıl sonra tekrar bu satırlarla okumak beni tekrar o duygulara götürdü.
Micromegas'a dönelim. Bu uzun öykü Jonathan Swift'in 1726 yılında tamamladığı Gulliver'in Gezileri'nden yaklaşık 26 yıl sonra yazılmış, insan merkezci algıyı derinden sarsacak denli güçlü bir satirik eser. Bu eserinde hicvini daha çok insanın kendisini çok önemli bulması üzerinde yapmış;
"Dünyayı ellerinde tutabilen ve organlarının orantısı bizimkiyle aynı olan bir madde biçimi tasavvur ediniz, üstelik bu maddeden pekala çok sayıda bulunabilir. Bu durumda, daha sonra kaybetmek zorunda kalacağımız iki köy kazanmak için girdiğimiz şu savaşlar hakkında bu varlıkların ne düşüneceğini lütfen bir düşünün." (s.28)
Devasa canlıların, atom boyutundaki insanları incelediğini düşündüğümüzde, girdiğimiz savaşların, yaşadığımız çoğu şeyin ne kadar anlamsız olacağını hayal edin. İşte Voltaire bu eserinde en çok bu konuyu vurgulamak istemiş. Swift'in (henüz okuma şerefine nail olamadığım lakin konu olarak bildiğim) Gulliver'in Gezileri kitabında olduğu gibi ölçüleri astronomik farklılıkları olan insanları karşılaştırırken belki fark etmeden çağdaş bilim kurgunun ilk ve güçlü örneklerinden birini ortaya çıkarmış. Bu kitapta yine çağdaş bilim kurgunun ilk örneklerinden birisi kabul edilen Platon'un Düşü de bulunuyor. Bu eser, hafızam beni yanıltmıyor ise Platon'un Symposium'undaki insanın çift nitelikli olduğu yönündeki diyaloguna gönderme yaparak başlar. Kısacık olmasına rağmen Candide kitabında da ortaya atacağı fikirlerin nüvelerini barındırmaktadır.
Yukarıda mizahi yönünü örnek verdiğim metnin de geçtiği Scarmentado'nun Seyahatlerinin Öyküsü sanki Candide kitabında ortaya koyacağı fikirlerin nüvelerini oluşturabilecek mesajlar içeren bir diğer öyküsü. Bu konuyu detaylıca araştırmadım ama bu iki öykü Candide için bir ön hazırlık olabilir.
Kısacası, Voltaire; benim için adeta bir zaman yolcusudur. Çağının absürtlüklerini öyle ustaca bir dille hicveder ki sanki çağından çok öteye aittir o, bugüne ve yarına aittir.
M.B.
September 24, 2019
This 1752 novella by Voltaire is the first of his philosophical romances, but it is a long way from being his best. The best of course is Candide, that magnificent skewering of that worst of all philosophical ideas, namely, the best of all possible worlds. But there are two other prose romances of Voltaire’s—Zadig and “The Huron, or the Pupil of Nature”—that are much better than “Micromegas” too, and both are based on much the same premise: an outsider examines contemporary society, and finds much that is baffling, ludicrous, and contemptible there.
In this case, the outsider is from outer space, an inhabitant of one of the planets of Sirius. (Thus Micromegasis, among other things, an extremely early work of science fiction, and therefore of considerable history interest. Banished from his own planet for heresy, he decides—accompanied by the Secretary of the Academy of Saturn—to investigate our solar system. So of course they check out Earth.
The central conceit of the novella—and the continual source of its humor—is that both the protagonist Micromegas and his friend the Secretary (who is so small that Micromegas considers him a dwarf), are both incredibly huge by earth standards, much smarter than humans, live much longer than we do, and are equipped with scores of senses as opposed to five. As a consequence, it is very difficult for these two aliens to take the pretentions of earth people seriously.
Here’s a sample passage, in which one of the philosophers of earth explains the “the Sirian” the human institution called war:
”Did you know, for example, that as I am speaking with you, there are 100,000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100,000 other animals wearing turbans, or being massacred by them, and that we have used almost surface of the Earth for this purpose since time immemorial?”
The Sirian shuddered, and asked the reason for these horrible quarrels between such puny animals.
“It is a matter,” said the philosopher, “of some piles of mud as big as your heel. It is not that any of these millions of men that slit each other’s throats care about this pile of mud. It is only a matter of determining if it should belong to a certain man who we call ‘Sultan,’ or to another who we call, for whatever reason, ‘Czar.’ Neither one has ever seen nor will ever see the little piece of Earth, and almost none of these animals that mutually kill themselves have ever seen the animal for which they kill.”
“Oh! Cruel fate!” cried the Sirian with indignation, “who could conceive of this excess of maniacal rage! It makes me want to take three steps and crush this whole anthill of ridiculous assassins.”
“Do not waste your time,” someone responded, “they are working towards ruin quickly enough. Know that after ten years only one hundredth of these scoundrels will be here. Know that even if they have not drawn swords, hunger, fatigue, or intemperance will overtake them.”
June 23, 2025
Spoilers abound
I really enjoyed this short, witty story. It is the first work of Voltaire I have read, and I don't really have a very good knowledge of Voltaire or the time in which he lived aside from a rather general understanding. I'm sure a lot went over my head, and I may have misinterpreted bits.
At first, I enjoyed the way in which Voltaire mocked our place in the universe when describing the gigantic proportions of the Saturnian as miniscule and puny from the Sirian's perspective.
They have a nice wander through the Solar System, passing Jupiter and Mars. Then they land on Earth.
Then this line made me chuckle:
How times have changed.
And then as it neared the climax, there were some thought-invoking passages. Voltaire mocks the conflict over Crimea which made me reflect on the current Ukraine-Russia conflict (and more or less the entire history of war):
I mean, he isn't the first to say this and won't be the last, but I still found it interesting.
Later on, Micromegas the Sirian asks the people of earth to explain what a soul is and how ideas come into being, to which the humans reply by quoting Aristotle in Greek.
Finally, the Christian makes the case that God created the souls of man and is responsible for everything which Voltaire obviously mocks:
The Sirian and the Saturnian end up giving the people of earth a gift - a book with the answers to all of life's great questions. After they have left and an old librarian opens the book, he finds every page blank.
Micromegas is basically one long dad joke but, as a big fan of dad jokes, I was thoroughly entertained. And, perhaps aptly, my longest review is for the shortest book I have yet read.
I really enjoyed this short, witty story. It is the first work of Voltaire I have read, and I don't really have a very good knowledge of Voltaire or the time in which he lived aside from a rather general understanding. I'm sure a lot went over my head, and I may have misinterpreted bits.
At first, I enjoyed the way in which Voltaire mocked our place in the universe when describing the gigantic proportions of the Saturnian as miniscule and puny from the Sirian's perspective.
They have a nice wander through the Solar System, passing Jupiter and Mars. Then they land on Earth.
Then this line made me chuckle:
Our philosophers planted a great shaft on him, in a place that doctor Swift would have named, but that I will restrain myself from calling by its name, out of respect for the ladies.
How times have changed.
And then as it neared the climax, there were some thought-invoking passages. Voltaire mocks the conflict over Crimea which made me reflect on the current Ukraine-Russia conflict (and more or less the entire history of war):
"We have more substance than is necessary," he said, "to do evil, if evil comes from substance; and too much spirit, if evil comes from spirit. Did you know, for example, that as I am speaking with you, there are 100,000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100,000 other animals wearing turbans, or being massacred by them, and that we have used almost surface of the Earth for this purpose since time immemorial?"
The Sirian shuddered, and asked the reason for these horrible quarrels between such puny animals.
"It is a matter," said the philosopher, "of some piles of mud as big as your heel. It is not that any of these millions of men that slit each other's throats care about this pile of mud. It is only a matter of determining if it should belong to a certain man who we call 'Sultan,' or to another who we call, for whatever reason, 'Czar.' Neither one has ever seen nor will ever see the little piece of Earth, and almost none of these animals that mutually kill themselves have ever seen the animal for which they kill."
I mean, he isn't the first to say this and won't be the last, but I still found it interesting.
Later on, Micromegas the Sirian asks the people of earth to explain what a soul is and how ideas come into being, to which the humans reply by quoting Aristotle in Greek.
"I do not understand Greek very well," said the giant.
"Neither do I," said the philosophical mite.
"Why then," the Sirian retorted, "are you citing some man named Aristotle in the Greek?"
"Because," replied the savant, "one should always cite what one does not understand at all in the language one understands the least."
Finally, the Christian makes the case that God created the souls of man and is responsible for everything which Voltaire obviously mocks:
He (the Christian) looked the two celestial inhabitants up and down. He argued that their people, their worlds, their suns, their stars, had all been made uniquely for mankind. At this speech, our two voyagers nearly fell over with that inextinguishable laughter which, according to Homer, is shared with the gods.
The Sirian and the Saturnian end up giving the people of earth a gift - a book with the answers to all of life's great questions. After they have left and an old librarian opens the book, he finds every page blank.
Micromegas is basically one long dad joke but, as a big fan of dad jokes, I was thoroughly entertained. And, perhaps aptly, my longest review is for the shortest book I have yet read.
December 6, 2023
Si nos proponemos buscar las simientes de la Ciencia Ficción, es lógico que nos sumerjamos en la ficción filosófica, y uno de los principales cultivadores tempranos de este tipo de literatura (que cobró auge en el siglo XIX) fue el francés Voltaire, entre cuya obra destacan dos relatos generalmente considerados como una excepcional muestra de lo que se podría denominar protociencia ficción: "El sueño de Platón" (1756) y "Micromegas" (1752).
En este fantástico relato nuestro protagonista es el gigante Micromegas (desde mi punto de vista, el álter ego del mismo Voltaire), un joven extraterrestre que mide ocho leguas de altura, el cual emprende un viaje por las inmensidades del espacio y hace una especial escala en algo parecido a un hormiguero, que no es otra cosa que nuestra Tierra. Lo que él ve a través de improvisadas lentes de aumento es la locura de una sociedad donde imperan las "verdades" dogmáticas, la injusticia "con la distribución irracional de la riqueza" las guerras y la ignorancia en oposición a sus ideales éticos, que son el sentido común y el buen uso de la ciencia. Sólo con la razón, concluye nuestro Micromegas/Voltaire, es posible que el hombre alcance su plenitud; eso sí, una plenitud modestamente humana.
En este fantástico relato nuestro protagonista es el gigante Micromegas (desde mi punto de vista, el álter ego del mismo Voltaire), un joven extraterrestre que mide ocho leguas de altura, el cual emprende un viaje por las inmensidades del espacio y hace una especial escala en algo parecido a un hormiguero, que no es otra cosa que nuestra Tierra. Lo que él ve a través de improvisadas lentes de aumento es la locura de una sociedad donde imperan las "verdades" dogmáticas, la injusticia "con la distribución irracional de la riqueza" las guerras y la ignorancia en oposición a sus ideales éticos, que son el sentido común y el buen uso de la ciencia. Sólo con la razón, concluye nuestro Micromegas/Voltaire, es posible que el hombre alcance su plenitud; eso sí, una plenitud modestamente humana.
November 15, 2020
Me ha sorprendido bastante este relato corto del filósofo francés Voltaire. Tenemos la impresión (al menos a mi me pasa) de que el tema de los extraterrestres y los viajes por la galaxia son algo muy actual, ..y fíjate, ya estaban presentes en la literatura de mediados del siglo XVIII.
Tiene algo de los viajes de Gulliver, y hay mucho de Micromegas en El Principito.
Todo ello con reflexiones filosóficas (no podía ser de otra manera), que te hacen pensar.
Tiene algo de los viajes de Gulliver, y hay mucho de Micromegas en El Principito.
Todo ello con reflexiones filosóficas (no podía ser de otra manera), que te hacen pensar.
June 1, 2024
الحب والكره والمال والحكمة والتواضع والتكبر والقتل والتزوير والجنس والكره وبالأحرى كل الصفات السيئة الموجودة في النفس البشرية قد استغلها ڤولتير ووضعها في صورة قصص خيالية كأن يزور شخصا طوله ١٢٠ الف قدم وآخر اقصر من ذلك بقليل كوكب الارض ويتناقشون مع فلاسفة الارض عن أشياء ان تبدى لهم تسؤهم (وما ادراك ما كوكب الارض) وقصة عن الحب والكره واخرى عن زوجة ارادت ان تقطع انف زوجها المتوفي.
ولكني احسست من هذا الكتاب ان ڤولتير يصور المرأة وكأنها الشخص المجرم الذي لا يمكننا ان نعتمد عليه في الحياة والذي يستطيع ان يحيد الرجل عن طريقه ويغويه وقد يودي بحياته.
هل نحن كذلك يا معشر النساء!!!
ربما لا بد ان يكون اسم الكتاب " المكر والمقص " فهذا ما يليق به.
اقتباسات
“ ألا ترى أننا لا نكاد نولد حتى نموت؟ فحياتنا
نقطة، وموتنا لحظة، وكرتنا ذرة، لا نوشك أنْ نهمَّ بمعرفة شيء قليل حتى يدركنا الموت
قبل الاختبار، لا أكتمك أني لا أجرؤ على القيام بأي مشروع؛ فإني أرى نفسي كنقطة ماء في
بحرٍ خضم، وإني لأخجل، أمامك على الخصوص، بالوجه المضحك الذي أظهره في هذا
العالم.
“لنا اثنتان وسبعون، وكل
يوم نتذمر من هذه القلة؛ فتصوُّرنا يذهب إلى أبعد من حاجاتنا، ونرى أن حواسنا الاثنتين
والسبعين، وحلقتنا وأقمارنا الخمسة تجعلنا في حيزٍ ضيق، وأننا — بالرغم من فضولنا كله،
ومن مشتهياتنا الكثيرة الناتجة عن حواسنا الاثنتين والسبعين — لا يزال لنا متسعٌ كاف
للسأم والملل”
“ربِ! يا من وهبتَ الذكاء لكل مادة مهما تبلغ صغارتها، إنَّ الأجرام المتناهية
في الصغر تكلفك من الجهد مقدار ما تكلفك الأجرام المتناهية في الكبر، وإذا كان من
الممكن وجود مخلوقات أصغر من هذه، فلا يستبعد أنْ يكون لها عقل يتفوق على عقل تلك
الحيوانات الرائعة التي رأيتها في السماء، وتستطيع أنْ تغمر بقدمها الكرة التي هبطت
إليها.”
“بل هم أولئك البرابرة القاعدون، الذين يصدرون من داخل دواوينهم وفي أويقات الهضم
أوامرَهم بقتل مليون رجل، ثم يحمدون الله علنًا على ما فعلوا.
”
“فصرخ الشِعروي غاضبًا وقال: يا لهم من أشقياء! تحدثني نفسي بأن أخطو ثلاث خطوات،
وأسحق بثلاث رفسات وكرٍّ أولئك القتلةَ المضحكين.
“بل هم أولئك البرابرة القاعدون، الذين يصدرون من داخل دواوينهم وفي أويقات الهضم
أوامرَهم بقتل مليون رجل، ثم يحمدون الله علنًا على ما فعلوا.
”
“وقال التابع لمذهب ديكارت: النفس هي روح طاهرة، اكتسبت في أحشاء أمها جميع الأفكار
الميتافيزية، وعند خروجها من أحشاء الأم ذهبت توًّا إلى المدرسة، فتلقنت من جديد كل ما
كانت تدركه تمام الإدراك، وظلت جاهلة إياه تمام الجهل.”
“لا أدري كيف
أفكر، ولكني أدري أني ما فكرت مرة إلَّا بداعٍ من حواسي، ولست أشك في وجود جواهر مجردة
من المادة وذكية، ولكني أشك جدًّا في أنه يستحيل على الله أنْ يعطي المادة فكرًا، إني
أجلُّ القدرة الأبدية، وليس من شأني أنْ أحدَّها، ولست أؤَكد شيئًا، وأكتفي بأن أعتقد
أنَّ الأشياء الممكنة أكثر وجودًا مما يُظن.”
“وإنْ يكن ساءه في أعماق نفسه أنْ يرى في المتناهِين
في الصغر عجرفة متناهية في الكبر، ووعدهم بأن يضع لهم كتابًا في الفلسفة يرون فيه منتهى
الأشياء، ”
“ثم يجب أنْ أصرف بعض الاهتمام إلى ثروتي، فرغباتي معتدلة وأموالي المضمونة تسمح لي بأن
أعيش في غنى عن الآخرين، وهذه أعظم النِعَم إذ لن أُضطر إلى بذل ماء الجبين في التسكع لأولي
الجاه، ولن أحسد أحدًا ولن يحسدني أحد، أما أصدقائي فسأحتفظ بهم؛ لأنهم لن يجدوا عندي
موضوعًا لنزاع، وهذا أيضًا من السهولة بمكان.
“ثم طبع على الأولى قبلتين وهو ماضٍ، ولكنه وهب قلبه للثانية.”
ولكني احسست من هذا الكتاب ان ڤولتير يصور المرأة وكأنها الشخص المجرم الذي لا يمكننا ان نعتمد عليه في الحياة والذي يستطيع ان يحيد الرجل عن طريقه ويغويه وقد يودي بحياته.
هل نحن كذلك يا معشر النساء!!!
ربما لا بد ان يكون اسم الكتاب " المكر والمقص " فهذا ما يليق به.
اقتباسات
“ ألا ترى أننا لا نكاد نولد حتى نموت؟ فحياتنا
نقطة، وموتنا لحظة، وكرتنا ذرة، لا نوشك أنْ نهمَّ بمعرفة شيء قليل حتى يدركنا الموت
قبل الاختبار، لا أكتمك أني لا أجرؤ على القيام بأي مشروع؛ فإني أرى نفسي كنقطة ماء في
بحرٍ خضم، وإني لأخجل، أمامك على الخصوص، بالوجه المضحك الذي أظهره في هذا
العالم.
“لنا اثنتان وسبعون، وكل
يوم نتذمر من هذه القلة؛ فتصوُّرنا يذهب إلى أبعد من حاجاتنا، ونرى أن حواسنا الاثنتين
والسبعين، وحلقتنا وأقمارنا الخمسة تجعلنا في حيزٍ ضيق، وأننا — بالرغم من فضولنا كله،
ومن مشتهياتنا الكثيرة الناتجة عن حواسنا الاثنتين والسبعين — لا يزال لنا متسعٌ كاف
للسأم والملل”
“ربِ! يا من وهبتَ الذكاء لكل مادة مهما تبلغ صغارتها، إنَّ الأجرام المتناهية
في الصغر تكلفك من الجهد مقدار ما تكلفك الأجرام المتناهية في الكبر، وإذا كان من
الممكن وجود مخلوقات أصغر من هذه، فلا يستبعد أنْ يكون لها عقل يتفوق على عقل تلك
الحيوانات الرائعة التي رأيتها في السماء، وتستطيع أنْ تغمر بقدمها الكرة التي هبطت
إليها.”
“بل هم أولئك البرابرة القاعدون، الذين يصدرون من داخل دواوينهم وفي أويقات الهضم
أوامرَهم بقتل مليون رجل، ثم يحمدون الله علنًا على ما فعلوا.
”
“فصرخ الشِعروي غاضبًا وقال: يا لهم من أشقياء! تحدثني نفسي بأن أخطو ثلاث خطوات،
وأسحق بثلاث رفسات وكرٍّ أولئك القتلةَ المضحكين.
“بل هم أولئك البرابرة القاعدون، الذين يصدرون من داخل دواوينهم وفي أويقات الهضم
أوامرَهم بقتل مليون رجل، ثم يحمدون الله علنًا على ما فعلوا.
”
“وقال التابع لمذهب ديكارت: النفس هي روح طاهرة، اكتسبت في أحشاء أمها جميع الأفكار
الميتافيزية، وعند خروجها من أحشاء الأم ذهبت توًّا إلى المدرسة، فتلقنت من جديد كل ما
كانت تدركه تمام الإدراك، وظلت جاهلة إياه تمام الجهل.”
“لا أدري كيف
أفكر، ولكني أدري أني ما فكرت مرة إلَّا بداعٍ من حواسي، ولست أشك في وجود جواهر مجردة
من المادة وذكية، ولكني أشك جدًّا في أنه يستحيل على الله أنْ يعطي المادة فكرًا، إني
أجلُّ القدرة الأبدية، وليس من شأني أنْ أحدَّها، ولست أؤَكد شيئًا، وأكتفي بأن أعتقد
أنَّ الأشياء الممكنة أكثر وجودًا مما يُظن.”
“وإنْ يكن ساءه في أعماق نفسه أنْ يرى في المتناهِين
في الصغر عجرفة متناهية في الكبر، ووعدهم بأن يضع لهم كتابًا في الفلسفة يرون فيه منتهى
الأشياء، ”
“ثم يجب أنْ أصرف بعض الاهتمام إلى ثروتي، فرغباتي معتدلة وأموالي المضمونة تسمح لي بأن
أعيش في غنى عن الآخرين، وهذه أعظم النِعَم إذ لن أُضطر إلى بذل ماء الجبين في التسكع لأولي
الجاه، ولن أحسد أحدًا ولن يحسدني أحد، أما أصدقائي فسأحتفظ بهم؛ لأنهم لن يجدوا عندي
موضوعًا لنزاع، وهذا أيضًا من السهولة بمكان.
“ثم طبع على الأولى قبلتين وهو ماضٍ، ولكنه وهب قلبه للثانية.”
November 16, 2018
L'ironia, innanzitutto
Del multiforme genio di Voltaire, volendo e potendo, si potrebbe scrivere a lungo. Personalmente non ne sono in grado, mi limito a godermi le sue opere e ad ammirarlo. Borges, lettore migliore del sottoscritto, sottolinea tra l'altro che "i lucidi racconti di Voltaire sono puri ed elevati giochi che non esigono credulità ma una volontaria e gioiosa partecipazione": riassunto perfetto degli aspetti fondamentali di gran parte dell'opera del francese (a cui va aggiunta "la miglior prosa della lingua francese e forse del mondo" - qui J.L.B. esagera, ma è perdonabile).
Giusto due estratti, tanto per stimolar l'appetito...
"Racconterò ingenuamente come la cosa andò, senza metterci nulla del mio, che per uno storico non è piccolo sforzo."
"Bisogna pur citare, quello che non si capisce per niente, nella lingua che meno si intende."
- Micromegas -
Del multiforme genio di Voltaire, volendo e potendo, si potrebbe scrivere a lungo. Personalmente non ne sono in grado, mi limito a godermi le sue opere e ad ammirarlo. Borges, lettore migliore del sottoscritto, sottolinea tra l'altro che "i lucidi racconti di Voltaire sono puri ed elevati giochi che non esigono credulità ma una volontaria e gioiosa partecipazione": riassunto perfetto degli aspetti fondamentali di gran parte dell'opera del francese (a cui va aggiunta "la miglior prosa della lingua francese e forse del mondo" - qui J.L.B. esagera, ma è perdonabile).
Giusto due estratti, tanto per stimolar l'appetito...
"Racconterò ingenuamente come la cosa andò, senza metterci nulla del mio, che per uno storico non è piccolo sforzo."
"Bisogna pur citare, quello che non si capisce per niente, nella lingua che meno si intende."
- Micromegas -
June 27, 2025
I feel so INSIGNIFICANT...
This pocket-sized philosophical satire took me on an intergalactic journey with Micromégas, a being so vast he could use Jupiter as a golf ball... and his even more colossal companion from Saturn. Together, they descend upon our humble Earth... treating it less like a planet and more like a particularly intriguing petri dish.
This was the first work by Voltaire that I read... Voltaire is a keen observer of human folly... He uses this alien lens to highlight our petty wars, our pompous philosophers and our ridiculous self-importance.
What?
WHAT??🤔
I am surprised by the contrast between units and dimensions of the fundamental physical quantities... the enormous size of the titular character, Micromegas and the tiny size of humans to highlight the relativity of perception and the limitations of human knowledge. It's like... we are comparing the size of Micromegas (24000 paces or 120000 feet) in relation to the size of Earth and humans (5 feet)... not just length, mass but also time...
Will the normal temperature there be sth like 10000 degree Celsius?
Huh??
This pocket-sized philosophical satire took me on an intergalactic journey with Micromégas, a being so vast he could use Jupiter as a golf ball... and his even more colossal companion from Saturn. Together, they descend upon our humble Earth... treating it less like a planet and more like a particularly intriguing petri dish.
This was the first work by Voltaire that I read... Voltaire is a keen observer of human folly... He uses this alien lens to highlight our petty wars, our pompous philosophers and our ridiculous self-importance.
"...since Mr. Micromegas, inhabitant of the country of Sirius, is 24,000 paces tall, which is equivalent to 120,000 feet, and since we citizens of the earth are hardly five feet tall, and our sphere 9,000 leagues around; they will find, I say, that it is absolutely necessary that the sphere that produced him was 21,600,000 times greater in circumference than our little Earth..."
What?
On one of the planets that orbits the star named Sirius there lived a spirited young man, who I had the honor of meeting on the last voyage he made to our little ant hill. He was called Micromegas, a fitting name for anyone so great. He was eight leagues tall, or 24,000 geometric paces of five feet each.
WHAT??🤔
He was not even 250 years old when he studied, as is customary, at the most celebrated colleges of his planet, where he managed to figure out by pure willpower more than 50 of Euclid's propositions.... Towards his 450th year, near the end of his infancy, he dissected many small insects no more than 100 feet in diameter, which would evade ordinary microscopes.
I am surprised by the contrast between units and dimensions of the fundamental physical quantities... the enormous size of the titular character, Micromegas and the tiny size of humans to highlight the relativity of perception and the limitations of human knowledge. It's like... we are comparing the size of Micromegas (24000 paces or 120000 feet) in relation to the size of Earth and humans (5 feet)... not just length, mass but also time...
Will the normal temperature there be sth like 10000 degree Celsius?
"Tell me how many senses the men of your planet have."
"We only have 72."
Huh??
July 26, 2016
إنهَ الحكمة ! الحكمة الخالصة التي تبحثُ عنا ونتجاهلها ..
القصص كانت مليئة بالحكم التي تعلمُنا كيفية الحياة ، إن الوقت لإيجاد نفسنا التائهة ييدأ بقصة عادية ولكن سرعان ماتتحول هذه القصة إلى لغز ومن لغز إلى ترميز ومن ترميز إلى تغيير أو تبلد!
القصص كانت مليئة بالحكم التي تعلمُنا كيفية الحياة ، إن الوقت لإيجاد نفسنا التائهة ييدأ بقصة عادية ولكن سرعان ماتتحول هذه القصة إلى لغز ومن لغز إلى ترميز ومن ترميز إلى تغيير أو تبلد!
May 31, 2024
عُرف ڤولتير باسلوبه الفلسفي الساخر و طرافة اسلوبه و هذا يتضح جداً في هذه القصص التي تفيض فلسفة و دعابة في طرح بعض المسائل الفلسفية من خلال قصص قصيرة موجّهة واضحة
في قصة ميكروميغاس يتناول موضوع زهو الانسان بنفسه و كِبره و عجرفته رغم صغر حجمه .. ايمانه بأن الاكوان و كل العالم خلق من اجله هو و هو حشرة صغيرة لا تكاد ترى بالميكروسكوب
النزاعات الجاهلة و الحروب ذات الاهداف الانانية و الجهل الذي ينحو بالانسان لأن يقتل مثيله من اجل شخص لم و لن يراه في حياته
قصة جميلة جداً
قصة ممنون الطريفة جداً و بحثه عن الحكمة المطلقة التي لا وجود لها و فشله في اول اختبار له لتحقيق ما عزم عليه ….
يجعلنا نتساءل اي قدر نريد ان نصله من الحكمة؟ من هم أصدقاؤنا؟ معقولية مطالبنا و جديتنا في سعينا لها ؟!!
اما قصة الزوجة المخلصة فكانت سخرية ڤولتير في سردها يجعلك تقرأ كلماته و تضحك على شخصية المرأة و تناقضاتها و رأيت فيها شيء من الظّلم بحق قلب المرأة اذ صوّرها مرتين بأنها شخص ينسى حبه بسرعة و لا يمكنها الاخلاص لحبها لرجل واحد و لا يمكن الاعتماد كثيراً على ذلك الحب !!
في قصة ميكروميغاس يتناول موضوع زهو الانسان بنفسه و كِبره و عجرفته رغم صغر حجمه .. ايمانه بأن الاكوان و كل العالم خلق من اجله هو و هو حشرة صغيرة لا تكاد ترى بالميكروسكوب
النزاعات الجاهلة و الحروب ذات الاهداف الانانية و الجهل الذي ينحو بالانسان لأن يقتل مثيله من اجل شخص لم و لن يراه في حياته
قصة جميلة جداً
قصة ممنون الطريفة جداً و بحثه عن الحكمة المطلقة التي لا وجود لها و فشله في اول اختبار له لتحقيق ما عزم عليه ….
يجعلنا نتساءل اي قدر نريد ان نصله من الحكمة؟ من هم أصدقاؤنا؟ معقولية مطالبنا و جديتنا في سعينا لها ؟!!
اما قصة الزوجة المخلصة فكانت سخرية ڤولتير في سردها يجعلك تقرأ كلماته و تضحك على شخصية المرأة و تناقضاتها و رأيت فيها شيء من الظّلم بحق قلب المرأة اذ صوّرها مرتين بأنها شخص ينسى حبه بسرعة و لا يمكنها الاخلاص لحبها لرجل واحد و لا يمكن الاعتماد كثيراً على ذلك الحب !!
June 25, 2023
It's never a bad time to read french satire.
July 25, 2016
هذا هو الكتاب الثاني الذي أقرؤه لفولتير.
هو بالتأكيد ليس بجودة كانديد. ولكنه يستحق القراءة على أية حال.
ما يميزه هو مقدار الحكمة الجيّد فيه. وأيضاً يتميز ببساطة هذه الحكم وعمقها. كما ان فولتير اعتمد فيه أسلوباً جميلاً وهو تلخيص الحكمة الكليّة في نهاية كل قصة بسطر أو سطرين.
كتاب خفيف وجميل.
هذا هو الكتاب الثاني الذي أقرؤه لفولتير.
هو بالتأكيد ليس بجودة كانديد. ولكنه يستحق القراءة على أية حال.
ما يميزه هو مقدار الحكمة الجيّد فيه. وأيضاً يتميز ببساطة هذه الحكم وعمقها. كما ان فولتير اعتمد فيه أسلوباً جميلاً وهو تلخيص الحكمة الكليّة في نهاية كل قصة بسطر أو سطرين.
كتاب خفيف وجميل.
January 30, 2019
A simple plot designed to bring individuals completely alien (in the literal, extra-planetary sense of the word) into conversation with one another concerning mathematics, science, and philosophy. Some interesting, ahead-of-their-time ideas, presented with a bit of wry humor. Overall not a fantastic book, but an intriguing example of proto science fiction from 1752
September 18, 2023
Nereden başlamalı? Kara mizaha bayılıyorum. Voltaire asırlar önce yazdığı bu kitabıyla farsın, incelikli alayın, kıssanın, nüktenin, retoriğin hasını vermiş, beşeri ve ahlaki kalıpların sabun kalıbı gibi elimizde eriyekaldığı yaşantımızı tüm çıplaklığıyla (daha çok filozofların) yüzümüze vurmuş ve dahi -bana göre- "Dünyanın Durduğu Gün" (The Day The Earth Stood Still, 1951) gibi bir klasiğin çıkış noktasını bizlere kazandırmıştır: Yukarıdan, dış (geniş) pencerede (çerçevede) insanlığa, dünyamıza baktığımızda çoğumuzun bugün düşündüklerini ustalıkla kaleme almış bu düşünüre minnetimizi ne kadar sunsak azdır, tabii kifayet dolabımız elverdiğince.
Kitapta yer alan hiçbir öykü boş geçmiyor, her biri ana öykü olan Micromegas'ın etkisini perçinlemekle kalmıyor, tek başına esere ve bizlere değer katıyorlar. Her evde bulunması gerektiğini düşündüğüm bu kitabın çevirmenlerinden de bahsetmek istiyorum:
Alfa'da Lovecraft ve Poe çevirileri ile tanıdığımız Hasan Fehmi Nemli var. Kırmızı Kedi'nin Babil Kitaplığı serisinden çıkan edisyonda ise İş Bankası için Moliere ve yine Voltaire çevirmiş Berna Günen var. Not aldığım kimi pasajları hangi tercüman daha iyi çevirmiş diye baktım: Kiminde Nemli daha leziz bir çeviri sunarken kimindeyse Günen'in direkt "doğru" çevirisi Nemli'yi nakavt etmiş. İlgili bölümleri vaktim olduğunda ekleyeceğim. Ardından okumaya giriştiğim Düzülke'yi yarım bırakmama sebep olan huşunun sarhoşluğunda övgüden ibaret kritiğimi -şimdilik- noktalıyorum.
Kitapta yer alan hiçbir öykü boş geçmiyor, her biri ana öykü olan Micromegas'ın etkisini perçinlemekle kalmıyor, tek başına esere ve bizlere değer katıyorlar. Her evde bulunması gerektiğini düşündüğüm bu kitabın çevirmenlerinden de bahsetmek istiyorum:
Alfa'da Lovecraft ve Poe çevirileri ile tanıdığımız Hasan Fehmi Nemli var. Kırmızı Kedi'nin Babil Kitaplığı serisinden çıkan edisyonda ise İş Bankası için Moliere ve yine Voltaire çevirmiş Berna Günen var. Not aldığım kimi pasajları hangi tercüman daha iyi çevirmiş diye baktım: Kiminde Nemli daha leziz bir çeviri sunarken kimindeyse Günen'in direkt "doğru" çevirisi Nemli'yi nakavt etmiş. İlgili bölümleri vaktim olduğunda ekleyeceğim. Ardından okumaya giriştiğim Düzülke'yi yarım bırakmama sebep olan huşunun sarhoşluğunda övgüden ibaret kritiğimi -şimdilik- noktalıyorum.
August 24, 2020
Tão bom. Tão cheio de entrelinhas. Tão pequeno mas tão grande. Considero este conto um prolongamento do "Cândido" [ou vice-versa]. Sintetiza o cepticismo e ironia de Voltaire em relação ao pretenso saber da filosofia e dos filósofos. Porém, o tom é ternurento. O que não é muito habitual em Voltaire. Micrómega, o gigante do espaço, enamora-se por este sonho de azul e gravidade que é a Terra. Quer conhecer melhor esta pequena luz no infinito. Desce à Terra e deleita-se com os pequenos nadas que são as vidas dos seres humanos. Quer cuidar destes seres cheios de fadigas e dores. Mas cedo se apercebe que os homens têm a pretensão de aprofundarem os seus destinos. Os mesmos homens que lhe revelam sistemas filosóficos [todos risíveis]. O gigante oscila entre o riso e a ternura por estes homens que construíram teorias sobres os mil "porquês" de um universo que os ultrapassa infinitamente. Micrómega julga aqueles filósofos que Voltaire desprezava, por causa desse orgulho infinitamente grande que não convém aos que são infinitamente pequenos.
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