Life of Voltaire. Volume 1 / James Parton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parton, James, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Authors, French--Biography.

Authors, French.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 639 pages) : facsimiles, portraits

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Co, 1881.

Summary:

"I attempt in these volumes to exhibit to the American people the most extraordinary of Frenchmen, and one of the most extraordinary of human beings. When first I ventured, many years ago, to think of this task, I soon ceased to wonder why a subject so alluring had not been undertaken before by any one employing the whole of the existing material. Voltaire was then buried under a mountain of heterogeneous record. The attempts of essayists, even those of the first rank, to characterize him truly were in some degree frustrated by an abundance of unsorted information that defied all ordinary research. Since that time the Voltairean material has continued to accumulate. The Voltaire of these volumes is the nearest to the true one that I have been able to gather and construct. I think the man is to be found in these pages delineated by himself. There was space in Voltaire to include these extremes. He was faulty enough to gratify the prejudice of that honest priest; he was good enough to kindle, justify, and sustain the enthusiasm of that young philanthropist"-- Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.