Voltaire

Morley, John, 1838-1923Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.9

Word count: 572K words
Chapters: 58

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Voltaire by John MorleyAuthor: Morley, John, 1838-1923,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Sep 23, 2012

Editor's review

This is a critical biography of Voltaire by the British thinker John Morley, one of the key works through which the nineteenth-century English-speaking world understood the French Enlightenment. Morley does not merely list the events of Voltaire's life; he examines Voltaire's literary production, philosophical polemics, and the politics of the age together, seeking to explain how a thinker shaped public opinion amid censorship and controversy. The book bears the clear marks of Victorian critical biography: strongly argumentative, decisive in judgment, restrained in style with a slight moral concern. For readers, its value lies in offering a "contemporary's perspective"—how a nineteenth-century Englishman assessed an eighteenth-century Frenchman. It is suitable as an introductory companion to Voltaire studies, or for understanding the reception history of Enlightenment thought in the English-speaking world. Note that the book was written long ago, and some facts and evaluations have been revised by later scholarship; it is best read alongside a more recent Voltaire biography.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Philosophy readers preparing to read Voltaire's own works who need background orientation
Academic readers studying the reception history of Enlightenment thought in the English-speaking world
Readers interested in the critical biography genre and nineteenth-century intellectual essays
General readers seeking an overview of the French Enlightenment

Not a good fit for

Specialist researchers seeking the latest Voltaire scholarship
General leisure readers expecting a light, narrative biography
Readers uncomfortable with nineteenth-century English critical prose who prefer plain narration

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and conclusion first to grasp Morley's overall judgment, then fill in the chapter details.
Read alongside short original works such as Voltaire's Philosophical Letters to test whether the biography's generalizations hold.
Annotate Morley's moral judgments, distinguishing factual statements from the author's positions.
After finishing, consult the corresponding chapters of a modern Voltaire biography to compare evaluations.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a biography of Voltaire or a study of his thought?

Both. Morley uses biography as a thread but focuses on Voltaire's writings, polemics, and intellectual influence, making it closer to an intellectual critical biography than a chronological life, with a clear evaluative stance throughout.

Can I understand it without a philosophy background?

It is accessible as an introduction but requires some patience. Morley assumes readers have a basic knowledge of the Enlightenment; it is advisable to read a brief overview of Voltaire's life first, then turn to this book, looking up names and events as needed.

Are the views in the book still reliable today?

As a nineteenth-century work, its factual details and assessments of figures have been supplemented and revised by later scholarship. It is better read as material on reception history than as the sole authoritative reference.

Is the original English difficult to read?

Morley's style is formal with long sentences, characteristic of nineteenth-century English discursive prose, and harder than ordinary popular biography. Non-native readers may try the introductory chapters first before deciding whether to read the whole book.

Comments

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About the author

Morley, John, 1838-1923 Author

John Morley (1838–1923) was a British statesman, writer and biographer, though public information about the details of his life is limited. Thirty of his works are held in this collection, mainly in the fields of intellectual history and political biography. His three-volume Life of William Ewart Gladstone draws on detailed sources and a restrained style to trace the career of this British statesman, and is an important reference for understanding Victorian politics. He also wrote Diderot and the Encyclopaedists and Voltaire, studies of French Enlightenment figures and their thought. Essays in his Critical Miscellanies deal with the life of George Eliot and eighteenth-century France, showing his wide interests in literary criticism and historical writing. Overall, his work tends toward intellectual biography, with solid material and clear prose that is both scholarly and readable.