The Works of Voltaire, Vol. 40

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Excerpt from The Works of Voltaire, Vol. 40: A Contemporary Version The most famous and most debated of Voltaire's poems was "La Pucelle d' Orleans." It caused him half a lifetime of worry. At the duke of Richelieus supper-table the author was challenged to write a poem on the legendary heroine. He replied that there were so many absurdities in the story that it was fitter to be the subject of a mock-heroic burlesque rather than an epic, which a minor poet had attempted. Accordingly he produced several cantos in quick succession, which took the reading world by storm. Copies multiplied rapidly and spread through the court circles of Europe. The famous romances of France and Italy were racily told, they are classics to-day in all languages, and Voltaire simply followed the accepted rule in method of treatment and free style. The poem was begun in 1730. By 1740 so many hundred written versions and detached cantos were in circulation, greatly to the annoyance of the author, that Madame du Chatelet, unknown to Voltaire, employed a printer to issue an edition. Though the work was in progress, and heavy expense incurred, he peremptorily stopped the press. His enemies in Paris got hold of portions of the manuscript and used them mercilessly against him. At last, in self-vindication, he issued his own printed edition in 1762. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.