The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire

An accessible overview of the life, times and work of the eighteenth-century philosopher and writer.

As a leading thinker of the European Enlightenment, Voltaire is a central figure in France's collective cultural memory. The popularity of Candide has made him perhaps best known as a writer of tales. Yet these represent only a fraction of his entire œuvre. Voltaire created a style of authorship which made him the most famous writer in Europe and made him a figurehead for a certain style of writing and thinking. This Companion covers his plays, fiction, pamphlets, correspondence, biblical criticism, and historical, political and philosophical thought, to give a wide-ranging view of his writings. The most comprehensive book on Voltaire available in English, it makes accessible the most recent research in France as well as the English-speaking world, in a series of original essays and a guide to sources. The essays demonstrate why Voltaire remains an essential point of reference in defining the modern intellectual today.

Chronology; Introduction Nicholas Cronk; 1. The making of a name: a life of Voltaire Geoffrey Turnovsky; 2. Voltaire and authorship Nicholas Cronk; 3. Voltaire, philosopher or philosophe? David Beeson and Nicholas Cronk; 4. Voltaire and clandestine manuscripts Miguel Benítez; 5. Voltaire and the myth of England John Leigh; 6. Voltaire's masks: theatre and theatricality Russell Goulbourne; 7. Voltaire as story-teller Gianni Iotti; 8. Candide Philip Stewart; 9. Voltaire and history Catherine Volpilhac-Auger; 10. Voltaire's correspondence Christiane Mervaud; 11. Voltaire: pamphlets and polemic Olivier Ferret; 12. Voltaire and the politics of toleration John Renwick; 13. Voltaire and the Bible Graham Gargett; 14. The Voltaire effect Daniel Brewer; Guide to further reading; Index.

As a leading thinker of the European Enlightenment, Voltaire is a central figure in France's collective cultural memory. This Companion is the most comprehensive book on Voltaire available in English, comprising a series of original essays with a chronology and a guide to sources.

Nicholas Cronk is Professor of French Literature and Director of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford.