Voltaire in Exile [Hardcover]

Ian Davidson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0802117910 | ISBN-13: 978-0802117915 | Edition: 1st Ed. (U.S.)

In 1753, Voltaire-playwright, poet, philosopher and one of the most feted figures in Europe-was forced by Louis XV and his powerful mistress Madame Pompadour into exile, where he remained for the last twenty-five years of his life. During his years in Geneva, on the outskirts of France, Voltaire carved out a new world in isolation, becoming a successful entrepreneur, writing his masterpiece Candide, and lavishing gifts upon those around him. But it was as a figure cast out by the establishment that Voltaire began to develop his astonishingly modern ideas of human rights and social equality, borne out in his campaigns against a series of miscarriages of justice. In Voltaire in Exile, Ian Davidson recreates this period in the life of one of the giants of the Enlightenment. By painstakingly translating the rich correspondence between Voltaire and his family, members of the Court at Versailles, and the French intellectual elite, Davidson allows us to discover Voltaire the artist, the campaigner, the aesthete, the lover, the humorist. The result is a wonderfully vivid portrait of this extraordinarily funny, iconoclastic, complex, and, above all, ferociously intelligent individual.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A probing and careful biographer, Davidson recognizes that the transforming event of Voltaire's life came when he was banished from France. Losing his place in a country that idolized him as a poet and dramatist awakened Voltaire to political issues transcending national boundaries. In this chronicle of Voltaire's deep involvement in a series of post-exile campaigns to reverse barbaric court rulings, Davidson limns the great writer's remarkable transformation from a literary celebrity into an international champion of human rights. That metamorphosis generated scores of spirited letters initially appealing simply for the lives and liberty--or posthumous reputations--of specific individuals but finally demanding the radical reforms needed to free judicial proceedings from ecclesiastical tyranny. Davidson piquantly details Voltaire's real and unrelenting fight against the church hierarchy but also explodes the mythical image of Voltaire as an atheist and an egalitarian revolutionary. The brilliant writer of Candide knew all too well that this is far from "the best of all possible worlds"; this valuable study shows how resolutely he labored to make it a better one. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"'A powerful and illuminating book.' John Carey, Sunday Times 'Excellent... By focusing on Voltaire's years of exile, Davidson brings this most illustrious yet elusive of figures brilliantly to life. Davidson has done a marvellous job, cramming the hectic events of Voltaire's last three decades into a manageable length, while keeping the narrative readable and entertaining, as well as scholarly and informative.' Andrew Crumey, Scotland on Sunday" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Ed. (U.S.) edition (January 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802117910
• ISBN-13: 978-0802117915
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,375,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Voltaire Exalted, April 9, 2005

By 

Christian Schlect (Yakima, Washington/USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Voltaire in Exile (Hardcover)

Having been reminded of Voltaire from reading recent works on James Boswell and Benjamin Franklin, I found this very admirable book by Ian Davidson to be the remedy to my general ignorance about this great figure from the past. It is not the source to learn about Voltaire's early days or as the noted author of plays. However, from this book one can get a good feel for why Voltaire was, and remains, so important as the symbol of a thinking and witty man, living in an age often marked by severe religious, judicial, and political intolerance. He led a long, full life while often acting generously to improve the troubled lot of real humans.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, December 2, 2010

By 

JossSaturn - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Voltaire in Exile (Hardcover)

Rich in detail and meticulously researched this is an outstanding representation of an amazing man, his more amazing life and the trials and tribulations of free thinking individuals of the time. It's almost as if you have time travelled back to the eighteenth century ;)