Something between a tale and a polemic, these ""fables of reason"" are feats of narrative compression and contain much of Voltaire's best and funniest writing. From ribald tales of adultery to conversations between cosmic travellers, the stories in this collection pose moral, philosophical and social questions. Reader and protagonist alike find their assumptions challenged as Voltaire mingles rationality and fantasy.
By:
Francois Voltaire
Introduction by:
Haydn Mason
Translated by:
Theo Cuffe
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 198mm,
Width: 129mm,
Spine: 12mm
Weight: 157g
ISBN: 9780140446869
ISBN 10: 0140446869
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 12 July 2002
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
MicromegasIntroduction Chronology of Voltaire's Life and Times Further Reading Note on the Texts Translator's Note Contes Cuckoldage The One-eyed Porter Cosi-Sancta Micromegas The World As It Is Memnon Letter from a Turk Plato's Dream The History of the Travels of Scarmentado The Consoler and the Consoled The Story of a Good Brahmin Pot-Pourri An Indian Incident Lord Chesterfield's Ears Melanges Account of the Illness, Confession, Death and Apparition of the Jesuit Berthier Dialogue between a Savage and a Graduate Dialogue between Ariste and Acrotal The Education of Daughters Wives, Submit Yourselves to Your Husbands Dialogue between the Cock and the Hen Conversation between Lucian, Erasmus and Rabelais, in the Elysian Fields Notes
Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778) was the universal genius of the Enlightenment. In his early career he was briefly committed to the Bastille for his satires and later exiled to England. His most characteristic works are philosophical tales, of which Candide (1759) is the most famous. Theo Cuffe (translator) is also the translator of Penguin Classics' forthcoming edition of Candide. Haydn Mason (introduction and notes) is Professor of French at Bristol University.
