Memoirs of the Life of Monsieur de Voltaire

by Voltaire, Jacques Brenner, Sophie Lewis (Translator)

Written in the tongue-in-cheek manner for which he was famous, Monsieur de Voltaire’s memoirs reveal a new perspective on the international politics and history of the 18th century. Voltaire's role as acclaimed author, poet, dramatist, and philosopher led him to experience the personal attentions of the most illustrious men and women of his time. His irreverent, to say the least, portrayals of the leading figures of the day provide a hilarious portrait of the royal courts of Europe which fought over his services for almost 30 years. Only published posthumously, these memoirs relate and then commentate on literary accomplishments, historic fact, and salacious gossip alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, France, 18th Century, Memoir

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1759

About the author

Complete 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-

Reviews

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le propos de ces mémoires de Voltaire, ce sont les relations que le célèbre homme de lettre entretint avec le roi de Prusse Fréderic II. Il les compare avec raison avec celles que Platon put avoir avec le tyran Denys. Dans les deux cas, l'homme de pouvoir est attiré par le philosophe, dont il souhaite tirer du prestige, et le philosophe caresse l'idée de pouvoir donner à ses idées l'appui nécessaire à leur adoption. La flatterie de Frédéric était tellement outrée, qu'elle pouvait saouler la tête la mieux faite. Après avoir longtemps balancé - il était lié alors à Madame du Chatelet -, il ne peut résister à l'offre du souverain d'abandonner les cabales Parisiennes pour rejoindre les fastes d'une cour luxueuse où règne l'amour des lettres, où il dine à la table du roi sans cérémonie.

Mais bientôt l'hospitalité de Frédéric devient pesante. Voltaire s'attire la jalousie et le dénigrement des courtisans. Un mot l'inquiète : le roi le compare à une orange qu'il souhaite jeter après en avoir extrait le jus. Revenu des illusions de la vanité, résolu à sauver les pelures de l'orange, Voltaire se détermine à quitter un gredin qui loue la vertu et la paix dans ses vers, mais déclenche des guerres sous le simple prétexte de sentir sa force, prend plaisir à humilier les faibles et les sots, et abuse de la philosophie pour justifier la licence de sa conduite. Les mille tracasseries qu'il inflige à son invité lors de son retour achèvent de convaincre Voltaire de s'assurer une indépendance qu'il gagnera par son économie et son sens des affaires. On trouve dans ces mémoires la même amertume que dans la lettre VII du philosophe Athénien, mais la prose de Voltaire est un régal, fourmillant de traits d'esprit, de piquant et d'ironie.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unless you are au fait with French and Eurpoean history of the era in which Voltaire lived the text will be a bit of a struggle. There is no doubt that as an individual Voltaire held himself in very high regard.

[Yaseen Hashim · Rating 3 out of 5]

very light and beautiful book , it give you a lot of Voltaire by his own words , it also give you a good material to study for the period he had live in it .

[Vincent Hernot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, these aren't his memoires really, more a commission he accepted (why?) and which he limited to writing about the few years he spent in the service of the Emperor of Prussia.
I think the most interesting thing about this is the fact that this book has the text on the right hand-side, and the left is taken entirely with footnotes.
And that's needed because Voltaire is VERY economical with the truth, the chronology, and the reality of his role.
Not necessary in itself, but illuminating in other ways.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what's worse than the person writing the intro assuming I've already read the book? The person writing the intro assuming that I've read another book by the same author.

fkn funny tho

[Juan José · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voltaire et ses souvenirs les plus bizarres. Guerre et poésie. Voyages et corrections des textes aux rois d'Europe.

[James Hdz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Las memorias de Voltaire son una denuncia al despotismo.