1694–1778 · Paris, France · also known as François-Marie Arouet
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) was the sharpest wit of the Enlightenment — a poet, historian, philosopher and campaigner against religious intolerance and injustice who was twice locked in the Bastille and spent years in exile. His short satirical novel Candide (1759) sends an innocent young man through wars, earthquakes and disasters while his tutor insists this is “the best of all possible worlds,” ending with the famous advice to “cultivate our garden.”
Begin with Candide.
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Molière · Stendhal · Honoré de Balzac · Victor Hugo · Alexandre Dumas · Gustave Flaubert · Jules Verne · Émile Zola · Guy de Maupassant · Marcel Proust · Albert Camus
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) was the sharpest wit of the Enlightenment — a poet, historian, philosopher and campaigner against religious intolerance and injustice who was twice locked in the Bastille and spent years in exile. His short satirical novel Candide (1759) sends an innocent young man through wars, earthquakes and disasters while his tutor insists this is “the best of all possible worlds,” ending with the famous advice to “cultivate our garden.”
Candide is usually considered Voltaire’s best-known work, followed by Letters on the English, Zadig.
Most readers start with Candide.
Both refer to the same writer.
Yes — 1 of Voltaire’s books are free to read online in Pagine, the free e-reader and reading tracker.