Voltaire
Entry updated 4 March 2024. Tagged: Author.
Most famous pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), enormously productive and successful French philosopher, historian, playwright, belletrist who wrote under at least 170 other names. Of interest as Proto SF is "Micromégas", the title story contained in Le Micromégas de Mr. de Voltaire, avec une Histoire des Croisades & un nouveau plan de l'Histoire de l'esprit humain (coll 1752; trans Tobias Smollett as Micromegas, a Comic Romance [for full subtitle see Checklist] 1753), in which two Alien giants (see Great and Small), the larger from a planet circling Sirius and a smaller giant from Saturn, visit Earth, where their responses to human life make some satirical points, not least that our species may not be so very important in the context of the much larger physical Universe that was coming to be accepted at the time Voltaire was writing. Candide, ou l'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de M le Docteur Ralph (1759), the best known of all tales of the innocent abroad, can be seen as a precursor of Satirical picaresques from Kurt Vonnegut Jr to Robert Sheckley. Certainly a Fantastic Voyage, Candide is arguably also an early example of Anthropological sf; it was made into a musical comedy in 1957 by Leonard Bernstein, which retained its philosophical bite, though toning down the astonishing physical cruelty (including Sex with Torture) of the original. Other contes philosophiques with explicitly fantastic content include Zadig ou la Destinée ["Zadig or the Book of Fate"] (1748; trans anon as Zadig; Or, the Book of Fate: An Oriental History 1749) and Le taureau blanc (1774; trans as The White Bull; an Oriental History: from an Ancient Syrian Manuscript 1774). There are many further translations of these various works, none given below. [JC/PN]
see also: France; Outer Planets; Religion.
François-Marie Arouet
born Paris: 21 November 1694
died Paris: 30 May 1778
works (highly selected; there are many later translations, not listed here)
- Zadig; Ou, La Destinée: Histoire Orientale (Paris: Leseur, 1748) [binding unknown/]
- Zadig; Or, the Book of Fate: An Oriental History (London: John Brinley, 1749) [anonymous trans of the above: binding unknown/]
- Le Micromégas de Mr. de Voltaire, avec une Histoire des Croisades & un nouveau plan de l'Histoire de l'esprit humain (London: J Robinson, 1752) [coll: binding unknown/]
- Micromegas, a Comic Romance: Being a Severe Satire upon the Philosophy, Ignorance, and Self-Conceit of Mankind: Together with a Detail of the Crusades: and a New Plan for the History of the Human Mind (London: D Wilson and T Durham, 1753) [coll: trans by Tobias Smollett of the above: including Micromegas plus the two nonfiction pieces listed in the subtitle: binding unknown/]
- Candide, ou l'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de M le Docteur Ralph (Geneva, Switzerland: Gabriel Cramer, 1759) [of the 18 anonymous editions published in 1759, in more than one country, this is the first: minor differences from all other issues: hb/]
- Candide; Or, All for the Best (London: J Nourse, 1759) [trans anon of the above: binding unknown/]
- Candidus; or, the Optimist (London: J Scott and J Gretton, 1759) [trans by W Rider of the above: binding unknown/]
- Candide and Other Works (Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 2014) [omni of the above plus Zadig above and other works: trans by James Fowler of some titles: all trans edited and annotated by Fowler: pb/Nathan Clair]
- Le Taureau blanc: Traduit du syriaque (London: J Murray, 1774) [binding unknown/]
- The White Bull; an Oriental History: from an Ancient Syrian Manuscript (London: J Bew, 1774) [trans anon of the above: binding unknown/]
- The Prose Romances of Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: George M Barrie and Sons, 1900) [published in three volumes: trans by William Walton from various sources: first adequate edition of the complete tales: Bibliophilist's Library of Immortal Literature: hb/nonpictorial]
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