VOLTAIRE

VOLTAIRE
   Pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), enormously productive and successful French philosopher, historian, playwright, belletrist. Of interest to the student of PROTO SCIENCE FICTION is Micromegas (1752 UK; trans anon as Micromegas, a Comic Romance 1753 UK; best new trans W. Fleming as coll vt Micromegas and Other Stories 1989 UK), in which twogiants, one from a planet circling Sirius and one from Saturn, visit Earth, where their responses to human life make some satirical points, notleast that our species may not be so very important in the much larger Universe that was coming to be accepted at the time V was writing. Candide(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 earlyexample of anthropological sf; it was made into a musical comedy in 1957 by Leonard Bernstein. Other contes philosophiques with explicitly fantastic content include Zadig (1747; trans with other tales as Miscellanies [coll 1778 US]; many other trans exist) and Le taureau blanc(1774; trans as The White Bull 1774 UK; new trans with other tales as The White Bull, With Saul and Various Short Pieces [coll 1929 UK]).
   JC/PN

Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia. . 2011.

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  • Voltaire's — Voltaire …   Philosophy dictionary

  • Voltaire — (Porträt von Nicolas de Largillière) Voltaire [vɔlˈtɛːʀ] (* 21. November 1694 in Paris; † 30. Mai 1778 ebenda; eigentlich François Marie Arouet [ …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • VOLTAIRE — La vie de Voltaire recouvre tout un siècle, ou peu s’en faut: mieux, l’écrivain se confond avec son temps au point qu’on a parlé dès son vivant du siècle de Voltaire . Plus encore, il semble incarner l’esprit même de la France. À quoi tient cette …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • VOLTAIRE° — (François Marie Arouet; 1694–1778), French philosopher. No writer contributed so much as Voltaire to the destruction of the traditional beliefs fundamental to European society before the French Revolution: belief in the divine right of monarchy,… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Voltaire —   [vɔl tɛːr], eigentlich François Marie Arouet [aru̯ ɛ], französischer Schriftsteller und Philosoph, * Paris 21. 11. 1694, ✝ ebenda 30. 5. 1778; Sohn eines wohlhabenden Notars, erhielt eine humanistische Ausbildung im Jesuitenkolleg Louis le… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Voltaire — (spr. woltǟr ), François Marie Arouet de, der vielleicht einflußreichste aller franz. Schriftsteller, geb. 21. Nov. 1694 in Paris, gest. daselbst 30. Mai 1778, war der Sohn eines Finanzbeamten, Arouet, der ihn in dem Jesuitenkollegium Louis le… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Voltaire — Voltaire, François Maria Arouet de. Wer kennt nicht den Philosophen von Ferney, den großen Mann mit kleinen Leidenschaften, so freigebig und schonungslos mit seinem Spott und seiner Satyre, und doch so empfindlich und leicht verletzt durch… …   Damen Conversations Lexikon

  • Voltaire — Voltaire, ND U.S. city in North Dakota Population (2000): 51 Housing Units (2000): 21 Land area (2000): 0.407527 sq. miles (1.055489 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.407527 sq. miles (1.055489… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Voltaire, ND — U.S. city in North Dakota Population (2000): 51 Housing Units (2000): 21 Land area (2000): 0.407527 sq. miles (1.055489 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.407527 sq. miles (1.055489 sq. km) FIPS… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Voltaire — Ce nom de famille ne se rencontre que dans les départements d Outre Mer, où il a été visiblement attribué en hommage au philosophe. Rappelons que le nom Voltaire est une anagramme de L.I. Arouet, dans laquelle le v équivaut au u …   Noms de famille

  • Voltaire — name taken from 1718 by French author François Marie Arouet (1694 1778) after his imprisonment in the Bastille on suspicion of having written some satirical verses; originally de Voltaire. The signification is uncertain …   Etymology dictionary

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