Voltaire
Список книг автора VoltaireAgathocles
In AGATHOCLES the two sons of the King of Syracuse (Agathocles) strive for the hand of the same girl, and the elder is killed by the younger. The ruler can only avenge his loss by sacrificing his remaining son–but doing so would mean the end of his dynasty.
Two Voltairean Plays: The Triumvirate and Comedy at Ferney
Set in Roman times, Voltaire's play THE TRIUMVIRATE details a meeting on an island between Anthony and Octavian, in which the two main players in the post-Caesar Roman world decide how to divide up the spoils of war–and eliminate all potential rivals. Anthony agrees to divorce his wife Fulvia and marry Octavian's sister; and Octavian wants to marry Julia, Lucius's daughter, who loves Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great. When a storm lands Julia and Pompey Junior on the island, Fulvia agrees to help the star-crossed lovers–if they will aid her in gaining her revenge on Anthony and Octavian. Louis Lurine and Albéric Second's play COMEDY AT FERNEY features an elderly Voltaire, who must put off a starstruck young female fan who wants to meet him. But Voltaire's guest, the Prince de Ligne, decides to use the situation to sample the favors of the infatuated woman. A clever and swift-moving comedy.
The Death of Caesar
Voltaire's The Death of Caesar (Mort de César, 1735) is often erroneously described as a reworking of the first three acts of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Instead, Voltaire rewrote the text in its entirety, using a different approach that focuses on the act of tyrannicide, with the complication that Caesar has revealed to Brutus that the latter is actually his son. Brutus is an ardent republican whom Caesar wants to convert to his side. Ultimately, the son places the needs of the country over any paternal connection, and participates in the tyrant's assassination on the Ides of March. Great political drama, and a rediscovered classic of French literature!
The Collected Works of Voltaire
This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works – the Œuvre – of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook – 9148 pages easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate: • Candide • Micromegas • 's Philosophical Dictionary • Zadig • 's Romances, Complete in One Volume • Lettres sur les Anglais. English • A Philosophical Dictionary • The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia • Socrate. English • Correspondance de avec le roi de Prusse (Französisch) and King of Prussia Frederick II • Suspended Judgments: Essays on Books and SensationsJohn Cowper Powys • Works of Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre • The Fourth Book of Virgil's Aeneid and the Ninth Book of 's Henriad
Candide (Wisehouse Classics - with Illustrations by Jean-Michel Moreau)
"CANDIDE, OU L'OPTIMISME" is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply «optimism») by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, «we must cultivate our garden», in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, «all is for the best» in the «best of all possible worlds.» Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious Bildungs¬roman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is among the most frequently taught works of French literature. The British poet and literary critic Martin Seymour-Smith listed Candide as one of the 100 most influential books ever written.
Candide
Candide is a French satirical novella first published in 1759 by Voltaire. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life and being indoctrinated in “optimism” by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt finish of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. It concludes with Candide advocating a deeply practical precept, we must cultivate our garden, in lieu of the professor’s earlier mantra, all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is among the most frequently taught works of French literature.
