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Leseprobe

Voltaire

Name: Voltaire
Author: Ian Davidson

A Life

Ian Davidson

EPUB

ca. 13,99 €

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Sachbuch / Biographien, Autobiographien

Beschreibung

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.

Rezensionen

Excellent and timely

t afraid, occasionally, to draw its own conclusions against the grain of what has been written before
Written in the crisp, incisive prose of a practised journalist... research is impressive too. He read all those letters before he began and quotes from them extensively in this refreshing book which isn'

Painstaking and reliable... Davidson should be applauded for this warts-and-all portrait... does him full justice

A compelling read ... an insightful and entertaining picture of the man

Splendidly readable ... This is an entertaining and enlightening account of why Voltaire still matters

s frailties and faults, but his greatness shines all the more brightly
Ian Davidson has done him full justice in this rich biography. He hides nothing of his hero'

so fetishised by generations of scholars
It is the signal strength of the biography that grew out of an epistolatory labour of love that Davidson has kept his sights firmly on the man behind the letters rather than the "man of letters"

s finances, his domestic arrangements and his social life in readable and intelligent form
Davidson is a fastidious debunker of myths and restorer of balance. He tells his story from beginning to end, one year after the next, with an elegant lucidity, and you learn all you need to know about Voltaire'

s letters
Voltaire can be a rather daunting figure, but emerges in very human colours in this excellent biography, which makes splendid use of the philosopher'

Written in crisp, incisive prose... his research is impressive

A fascinating account ... unstuffy and very readable ... very entertaining

s book is impressive on both counts
Expands greatly on the image of Voltaire the philosophe... The picture that emerges is on of Voltaire as a human being, with his own letters providing a fascinating reservoir or information and anecdote... It is the depiction of Voltaire's complex character that makes this biography such a compelling read... opens up many areas of Voltaire's life and debunks some of its mythologies... giving us an insightful and entertaining picture of the man. It's remarkable, too, how easily Voltaire's philosophy of tolerance and justice relates to society today, and Davidson'

One of the many great merits of this book is that it firmly puts the emphasis on Voltaire as a man. There is no shortage of biographies of Voltaire ... but this is one of the best of them. Full of the revealing detail that French biographers tend to regard as vulgar gossip.

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