The Portable Voltaire [Paperback]

a editor's introduction (kind of a biography)

a timeline of voltaire's life

short bibliography

excerpts from philosophical dictonary (probably most of the book)

candide (whole)

zadig (whole)

micromegas (whole)

story of a good brahmin (whole, very short, about 2 pages)

letters to frederick the great (not sure if its complete, but then again i dunno if its a book either, but it has about 30 pages, im guessing off the top of my head, regardless, its a lot of stuff)

misc letters (alot of letters)

english letters (excerpts from, not complete)

lisbon earthquake (whole thing, its a poem)

I've been fascinated with voltaire for awhile, and have started collecting all the works of him that i can find (i just started, so all i have is candide, 5 short stories of his, and this book), i want to find more of his short stories if there is anymore, i think thats what voltaire did best. I havent completed this whole book yet (ive read all but the the last half of the letters section). The introduction was great, basically a biography of voltaire. the timeline of voltaire was very helpful, especially when you get to reading the letters, you can trace the date to the timeline, which makes it all the more interesting (especially with the Fredrick the great letters). I have to admit essays never appealed to me, i cant get into them, almost no matter what. I did read the whole selection from the philosophical dictionary, which weren't bad, but i dont have the taste for it. Voltaire's novels/short stories are what sparked my obsession. I cant read ideas/arguements unless they are presented in an interesting way, like in a moral story. voltaire excels at that, and he is FAR from being boring, his works are adventurous and fast-pased, and extremely comical (youve heard this before, but for emphasis, ill repeat it). Candide which could be summarized (summarized is the key word, youd be missing out by doing that) by reading the epigraphs under each chapter title, it remains a great read beside that fact, maybe my favorite "classic", runnerup for favorite book. Zadig, which is also a great read, not soo much as candide, but very close, also very alike ot candide, not in a repetitive way, but if youd read them both you'd know what i mean. i'd probably say Zadig's more clever/witty than Candide (the stories i mean, the characters also, for that matter). Micromegas is different from the other two aforementioned stories, i enjoyed it, although it seems to end too abruptly, not before it makes its point however, but i am hard to please. The letters which i don't like as much as the stories, but more than the essays (philosophical dictonary), were interesting in that you could trace the date of the letter to the timeline, and made the letters all the more intimate. I thought voltaire's flattering of frederickthegreat was un-voltaireish, but then im sure if voltaire was alive to stand up for himself, he could whip up a clever explaination for that, and my ignorance. misc letters were good also, i didn't know who some of the recipients of the letters were, oh well.

Havent read engllish letters, but i assume its nothing that would make me want to cahgne my mind on this review (if so, i will write another, but i doubt it, i trust in voltaires quality of work)

as for the "lisbon earthquake", i don't care much for translated poetry, and im not tooooo much of a poetry fan anyways, although i have read a few poems that i enjoyed. i have no idea what all was lost in translation in this/or any translated poem. i have never read the french version of the poem, and i dont understand but maybe 3 words in french, and since the translator had to keep rhyme in mind, we have no idea how the original translation was manipulated, so i just stay away from the stuff. Especially when it comes to works like voltaire where this is little room for misinterpretation, translated novels dont have this problem (to that extent anyways), maybe some of the wit and cleverness is lost (but much is still retained). I did read the poem, if that wasn't clear, i will say the footnotes were well done, even though they seemed kinda off, maybe thats because of the "lsot in translation" bit. oh well.

Bottom line:

id recommend this to about anyone with a sense of humor and openmind (kinda of a cliche, but that cliche was MADE for voltaire [thats probably another cliche])

i forget where but someone placed a review saying voltaire was VERY french, which i dont really see, aside from the titles: M. Mme. monseignour(however you spell it, i told you i dont know any french, and dont claim to) etc, he seemed like an englishman to me, maybe its the way it was translated.

Read candide FIRST, if this is your introduction to voltaire, then zadig, then his biography, then you will be entranced enough to plow through his other works in any particular order.