Within this book the tale of illegitimary, love affairs, exile, stardom, prison and tireless ongoing battles against critics,
king and priests, author Roger Pearson's brilliant biography of Voltaire brings this character very vividely to life.
"For over 500 years Paris had been the largest city in Europe thought London is fast catching up. Sanitation, where it existed, was rudimentery and water was in short supply. And the noise! The constant clatter of wheel on cobble, the crack of the whip and driver's curse, the hawker's cry and the urgent pleas of flowergirls and pamplet-sellers, street entertainers singing for their supper, or charltans promising everything from a wrinkle-free forehead to a cure for all your ills."
Pearson's excellent visualization and ability to create imagery for his readers goes without saying. He portrays and paints such an excellent picture of the time that Voltaire lived that you almost feel you can hear the hawker's cry and the flowergirls trying to sell their wares.
Roger Pearson is a professor of French at the University of of Oxford and a fellow of Queen's College. This latest book was published by Bloomsbury and is available from November 27th, 2005. The RRP for this wonderful book is ¤18.99 and the sub-title is "A Life in Pursuit of Freedom".
Voltaire was famous in his life as a poet and dramatist. Voltaire managed to be in the thick of things and yet survey them from a distance. He was born in Francois-Marie Arouet in Paris in 1694 and at an early age was sent to a Jesuit school of Louis-Le-Grand where he learned his love of the theatre and of poetry.
His father once confessed that "Voltaire was devoured by a thirst for celebrity".
In the yar 1725 Voltaire was beaten-up by a gang of hired assassins who were hired by an aristocrat Chevalier De Rohan. When Voltaire tried to fight back he was immediately sent to the Bastille. It was then that Voltaire decided to hide-out in England and his life would never be the same again.
Voltaire later returned to him homeland in the year 1734 and it was no time before he was in trouble with the
church and court. This was to become the pattern of his life and he, once again, had to seek refuge. This time it was in Champagne with a lady called Eilime Le Tonnelierde Breteuil, the marquise de Chatelet and a former mistress of Voltaire's friend, the Duc de Richelieu.
Voltaire spent 16 years there where he extended and repaired the Chatelet chateuu in Cirey. He occasionally visited the courts of Versaille and spent many days in the low countries where he entertained, conducted scientific experiments, quarrelled and produced many plays and pamphlets.
Voltaire went on to become one of the most famous men in Europe. He had no affiliations with any particular political forum and was considered a philosopher. He had many enemies within the Church and went on to be creative , campaign for justice and a champion for many victims of the "so called", justice system within France.
This book is a written with such knowledge with
highly professional penmanship. Roger Pearson presents his work with a great eloquence and it is hard not to become totally engrossed in Voltaire, a very diverse character who is highly underestimated within the annals of history. Highly recommended read.