Voltaire - Böcker

Den unika kortromanen som aldrig överträffats i ironi, satir och - splatter! Candide eller Optimismen av Voltaire. Nu i efterlängtad nyöversättning av Marie Berthelius och med efterord av Svante Nordin. Candide lever i lyx på baronens gods men efter ett erotiskt snedsteg med den vackra Kunigunda kastas han ut i en eländig omvärld och börjar dra från land till land i Europa och Sydamerika. Episoderna som Candide råkar ut för utgör ett smatterband av förfärliga groteskerier, den ena händelsen överträffar den andra i otyglade känslor och besinningslösa utlevelser. Och hela tiden försöker Candides vän filosofen Pangloss göra gällande att trots alla olyckor som drabbar dem lever de i "den bästa tänkbara av världar". Upplysningsfilosofen Voltaire (1694-1778) är känd för många saker - bland annat brukar man citera hans påstådda uttalande att även om han avskydde sina meningsmotståndares åsikter skulle han vara beredd att dö för deras rätt att uttala dem. Citatet är, som Svante Nordin poängterar i sitt efterord, naturligtvis falskt. Voltaire var inte mannen som var beredd att dö för några åsikter, inte ens för sina egna. Voltaire var omåttligt produktiv med sin berömda vassa penna. Böcker av skilda slag, biografier, dramer, dikter och en väldig mängd brev finns bevarade. Enbart utgåvan av hans samlade brev omfattar 13 volymer på vardera cirka 1500 sidor. Men av allt detta är det bara en enda bok som idag lever i all välmåga och faktiskt utan jämförelse är den text från upplysningstiden som har fått störst spridning och som fortfarande läses och ständigt hyllas som en alldeles makalös bok - nämligen denna lilla brännheta skrift - kortromanen Candide. Den är Voltaires ojämförligt mest lästa, oftast utgivna och oftast översatta verk, därtill säkert det mest lästa verket i hela den franska sjuttonhundratalslitteraturen. På sina drygt hundra sidor inrymmer den på sätt och vis "hela Voltaire" - hans kvickhet, hans elakhet, hans goda humör, hans fyndiga stilkonst, hans överlägsna perspektiv, hans vrede och hans medkänsla. Därtill - tyvärr, frestas man att säga - hans aktualitet. De grymheter och bestialiska dåd som skildras i Candide skulle ha kunnat äga rum i början av 1990-talet under upplösningen av det tidigare Jugoslavien eller just nu i Mellanöstern.

Enligt den franska filosofen och författaren Voltaire var Karl XII "den märkvärdigaste man som någonsin levat på jorden" - ett eftermäle som spreds till hela världen, mycket tack vare detta verk utgivet endast tretton år efter kungens död. Här tecknas krigarkungens många äventyr med lätt hand och med den goda berättarens känsla för drama och spänning. Kungen talar själv ur egen mun och vi får inblick i spelet bakom fältslagen och anekdoter ur hans vardag. Lika mycket som historieskrivning är det en fängslande skriven berättelse och flera av de myter som använts i nationalhistorien om Karl XII har runnit ur Voltaires egen penna. Som en av världslitteraturens klassiker sägs den ligga efter endast bibeln och Bunyans Kristens resa i antal upplagor; i Frankrike rentav fler än dem. Detta verk är ett måste för alla som vill förstå en av den svenska historiens mest omskrivna och mytomspunna personer. I originalöversättning av Gunnar Örnulf Voltaire (1794-1878) var en fransk filosof och författare. Han blev en av sin tids mest inflytelserika gestalter i sin slagkraftiga polemik mot religiöst förtryck, maktfullkomlighet, fördomar och okunnighet. Som en av de stora upplysningsmännen stred han för ökad kunskap inom alla områden, inte minst vetenskap och historia; och för tryckfrihet och religionsfrihet överallt. -

Candide, or the Optimist is Voltaire’s hilarious and deeply scathing satire on the Age of Enlightenment. This classic of French literature has been a bestseller for over two hundred years.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This classic of French literature features an introduction by Dr Marine Ganofsky.Young nobleman Candide lives a sheltered and comfortable life under the tutorship of the ridiculous Dr Pangloss who espouses the prevailing 18th-century philosophy of Optimism. Following an indiscretion, Candide is cast out into the world which according to Pangloss is ‘the best of all possible worlds’. But this is not so, Candide and his companions encounter nothing but ludicrous calamities in their madcap travels around the world – war crimes, earthquakes, inquisitions and chain gangs – all based with horrible closeness on real events of the 18th century.

One of Voltaire's earliest tales, Zadig is set in the exotic East and is told in the comic spirit of Candide; L'Ingenu, written after Candide, is a darker tale in which an American Indian records his impressions of France

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.Voltaire's short, radical and iconoclastic essays on philosophical ideas from angels to idolatry, miracles to wickedness, make wry observations about human beliefs, and mock hypocrisy and extravagant piety - his call to his fellow men to act with reason and see through the lies they are fed by their leaders has provided inspiration to freethinkers everywhere.

'If this is the best of all possible worlds, then what must the others be like?'Young Candide is tossed on a hilarious tide of misfortune, experiencing the full horror and injustice of this 'best of all possible worlds' - the Old and the New - before finally accepting that his old philosophy tutor Dr Pangloss has got it all wrong. There are no grounds for his daft theory of Optimism. Yet life goes on. We must cultivate our garden, for there is certainly room for improvement.Candide is the most famous of Voltaire's 'philosophical tales', in which he combined witty improbabilities with the sanest of good sense. First published in 1759, it was an instant bestseller and has come to be regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. What Candide does for chivalric romance, the other tales in this selection - Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull - do for science fiction, the Oriental tale, the sentimental novel, and the Old Testament. This new edition also includes a verse tale based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale, in which we discover that most elusive of secrets: What Pleases the Ladies. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

'What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he's certain he'll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?'Voltaire's Pocket Philosophical Dictionary, first published in 1764, is a major work of the European Enlightenment. It is also a highly entertaining book: this is no 'dictionary' in the ordinary sense, nor does it treat 'philosophy' in the modern meaning of the term. It consists of a sequence of short essays or articles, arranged in alphabetical order, and covering everything from Apocalypse and Atheism to Tolerance and Tyranny. The unifying thread of these articles is Voltaire's critique of established religion: ridicule of established dogma, attacks on superstition, and pleas for toleration. Witty and ironic, this is very much a work of combat, part of Voltaire's high-profile political struggle in the 1760s to defend the victims of religious and political intolerance. This new translation is based on the definitive French text, and reprints the edition that provoked widespread controversy and condemnation. In his Introduction Nicholas Cronk considers the work's continuing relevance to modern debates about religious intolerance and its consequences. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Inspired by Voltaire's two-year stay in England (1726-8), this is one of the key works of the Enlightment. Exactly contemporary with Gulliver's Travels and The Beggar's Opera, Voltaire's controversial pronouncements on politics, philosophy, religion, and literature have place the Letters among the great Augustan satires. Voltaire wrote most of the book in English, in which he was fluent and witty, and it fast became a bestseller in Britain. He re-wrote it in French as the Lettres philosophiques, and current editions in English translate his French. This edition restores for the modern reader Voltaire's own English text, allowing us to appreciate him as a stylist at first hand. It is the only critical edition of the original text and, as well as providing an introduction and notes, it includes intriguing accounts of Voltaire by contemporary English ovservers. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Voltaire's Treatise on Toleration is one of the most important essays on religious tolerance and freedom of thought A powerful, impassioned case for the values of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance, Treatise on Toleration was written after the Toulouse merchant Jean Calas was falsely accused of murdering his son and executed on the wheel in 1762. As it became clear that Calas had been persecuted by 'an irrational mob' for being a Protestant, the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire began a campaign to vindicate him and his family. The resulting work, a screed against fanaticism and a plea for understanding, is as fresh and urgent today as when it was written.

The novella has never been out of print and has been translated into every conceivable language. The text of this Norton Critical Edition remains that of Robert M. Adams’s superlative translation, accompanied by explanatory annotations.This edition also includes: A full introduction by Nicholas Cronk; Five background studies of Enlightenment ideas and themes (by Richard Holmes, Adam Gopnik, W. H. Barber, Haydn Mason and Nicholas Cronk), four of these new to the third edition; Eight critical essays—six of them new to this edition—representing a wide range of approaches to Candide. Contributors include J. G. Weightman, Roger Pearson, Dennis Fletcher, Robin Howells, James J. Lynch, Philip Stewart, Erich Auerbach and Jean Starobinski. A revised and expanded Selected Bibliography is also included.

Witty and caustic, Candide has ranked as one of the world's great satires since its first publication in 1759. In the story of the trials and travails of the youthful Candide, his mentor Dr. Pangloss, and a host of other characters, Voltaire mercilessly satirizes and exposes romance, science, philosophy, religion, and government.

Voltaire's brilliant satire, in the original French, with a new and exacting English translation on the opposing page. Through the adventures of Candide, we experience life's most crushing misfortunes, see the redeeming wisdom those misfortunes can bring — all the while enjoying Voltaire's witty burlesque of human excess.

Voltaire is widely known as the author of a literary masterpiece, Candide, while his reputation as a thinker rests largely on his Philosophical Letters and Philosophical Dictionary. He is equally renowned as a critic of the forces of superstition and fanaticism, and a champion of freedom of thought and belief. The works presented here, in a new English translation, are among the most important and characteristic texts of the Enlightenment, and bring together all three aspects of Voltaire: the writer, the doer and the philosophe. Originating in Voltaire's campaign to exonerate Jean Calas, they are works of polemical brilliance, informed by his deism and humanism and by Enlightenment values and ideals more generally. The issues which they raise, concerning questions of tolerance and human dignity, are still highly relevant to our own times. This volume presents them together with an introduction by Simon Harvey and useful notes on further reading.

Voltaire is widely known as the author of a literary masterpiece, Candide, while his reputation as a thinker rests largely on his Philosophical Letters and Philosophical Dictionary. He is equally renowned as a critic of the forces of superstition and fanaticism, and a champion of freedom of thought and belief. The works presented here, in a new English translation, are among the most important and characteristic texts of the Enlightenment, and bring together all three aspects of Voltaire: the writer, the doer and the philosophe. Originating in Voltaire's campaign to exonerate Jean Calas, they are works of polemical brilliance, informed by his deism and humanism and by Enlightenment values and ideals more generally. The issues which they raise, concerning questions of tolerance and human dignity, are still highly relevant to our own times. This volume presents them together with an introduction by Simon Harvey and useful notes on further reading.

This is an exact reproduction of the 1738 edition of Voltaire's The Elements of Sir Issac Newton's Philosophy . An index has been added under supervision of the general editor.