Product Description

In 1753, Voltaire - playwright, poet, philosopher, and one of the most feted figures in Europe - was forced into exile by King Louis XV, where he would remain for the last 25 years of his life. This period heralded a startling new beginning for this remarkable character during which Voltaire became a successful entrepreneur and wrote his masterpiece Candide. Cast out by the establishment, he also developed astonishingly modern ideas about human rights, borne out in his campaigns against a series of miscarriages of justice. Ian Davidson has drawn on the rich correspondence between Voltaire and his family, members of the Court at Versailles and the French intellectual elite, to paint a wonderful portrait of the man declared by Diderot to be 'the unique man of the century'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #483072 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
"'A powerful and illuminating book.' John Carey, Sunday Times 'Excellent... By focusing on Voltaire's years of exile, Davidson brings this most illustrious yet elusive of figures brilliantly to life. Davidson has done a marvellous job, cramming the hectic events of Voltaire's last three decades into a manageable length, while keeping the narrative readable and entertaining, as well as scholarly and informative.' Andrew Crumey, Scotland on Sunday"

About the Author
Ian Davidson graduated in Classics from Cambridge and was Brussels and Paris correspondent for for the Financial Times for many years and the main Foreign Affairs columnist during much of his career. He is also the author of The Gold War (with Gordon Weil) and Britain and the Making of Europe.

Customer Reviews

Voltaire in Exile - an excellent read
If you have read Voltaire's Candide, or his Letters Concerning an English nation, then you must read this book. Also, if you have been to Geneva, then it really puts this part of the world into context.
The style of writing is light with each chapter leaving you with a suspense (unlike most history/auto biography type books that mundanely list dates and facts).
Also, you'll be intrigued on just how powerful a role religion played during the 18th century. Some of the trials and executions are written out in quite explicit detail.
The author goes to some lengths to base his work on Voltaire's numerous letters, but without boring the reader in any way.
In addition, you'll learn a lot about Geneva, and its role as a Republic during this period.
Highly recommended.

How Voltaire became good
An excellent book; it is necessary reading for anyone
who thought they knew something about Voltaire, given
the common misunderstanding and ignorance about the
journey that Voltaire made in political thought and
civil-rights campaigning - as well as commerce -
during an incredibly productive time at the end of his
life. (The title refers to the fact that this period
was spent mostly near Geneva, for safety from the
french king.)

The work is scrupulously detailed about Voltaire's life (being largely based on his some 15,000 letters), while remaining clear and gently passionate, and without losing any sense of the rhythm of Voltaire's journey, but the author does not ornament Voltaire, and he does not need to: the story, and the narrative therefrom, are fascinating, and of key importance not just for Voltaire, but also the history of freedom in Europe.

A must for all students of French literature
This is an engrossing tale of the life of one of the greats of French literature. It's beautifully written and brings the man and his epoch truly alive. I wish I'd had it to hand when I was trying to study Voltaire at university.