About this book
We think of Voltaire as the epitome of the Enlightenment; in his own time he was also the most famous and controversial figure in Europe. Davidson tells the whole, rich story of his life (1694-1778) - his early imprisonment in the Bastille; exile in England and his mastery of English; an obsession with money, of which he made a huge amount; a scandalous love life; his infatuation with Frederick the Great; a long exile on the borders of Switzerland; his passion for watch-making; his human rights campaigns and his triumphant return to Paris to die there as celebrity extraordinaire. Throughout all of this Voltaire's life was always informed by two things: a belief in the essential value of toleration in the face of fanaticism; and in the right of every man to think and say what he liked. It is rare to have such a vivid portrait of a great man.
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Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Dedication
- Maps
- Note to the Reader
- Prologue
- 1 Youth: 1694–1713
- 2 Comédie Française: 1714–1718
- 3 Money, and the shortage of it: 1718–1722
- 4 Friends and lovers: 1722–1723
- 5 La Henriade: 1723–1726
- 6 From the court to the Bastille: 1725–1726
- 7 In England: 1726–1728
- 8 Return to France: 1729–1733
- 9 Lettres Philosophiques: 1731–1733
- 10 Voltaire and Émilie: 1733–1734
- 11 Émilie comes and goes: 1734–1735
- 12 The intellectual love-nest: 1735–1738
- 13 Ordeal of Mme de Graffigny: 1738–1739
- 14 Émilie’s court case: 1739–1740
- 15 Mission to Potsdam: 1741–1743
- 16 Voltaire at Court again: 1744–1746
- 17 End of a relationship: 1746–1747
- 18 Death of Émilie: 1748–1749
- 19 Voltaire in Prussia: 1750–1753
- 20 Humiliation at Frankfurt: 1750–1753
- 21 Sentence of exile: 1754–1755
- 22 Encyclopédie: 1753–1759
- 23 Ferney: 1758–1761
- 24 Mlle Corneille: 1760–1763
- 25 Campaigns for justice: 1761–1765
- 26 Damilaville: 17651765
- 27 Beccaria: 1765–1766
- 28 Chevalier de La Barre: 1765–1768
- 29 Geneva troubles: 1765–1768
- 30 The quarrel with Mme Denis: 1767–1769
- 31 Watch-making at Ferney: 1770–1776
- 32 Last campaigns: 1770–1778
- 33 Triumph and death: 1778
- Voltaire’s most important correspondents
- Select Bibliography
- List of Illustrations
- Notes
- Index
- Footnotes