Voltaire (1694-1778) - pseudonym of François-Marie Arou

French writer, satirist, the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. Voltaire is remembered as a crusader against tyranny and bigotry. Compared to Rousseau's (1712-1778) rebelliousness and idealism, Voltaire's world view was more skeptical, but both of their ideas influenced deeply the French Revolution. Voltaire disliked Rousseau and wrote to him in 1761: "One feels like crawling on all fours after reading your work."

"Liberty of thought is the life of the soul." (from Essay on Epic Poetry, 1727)

François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born in Paris into a middle-class family. His father was a minor treasury official. Voltaire was educated by the Jesuits at the Collège Louis-le-Grand (1704-11). He learned Latin and Greek and later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish and English. From 1711 to 1713 he studied law. Before devoting himself entirely to writing, Voltaire worked as a secretary to the French ambassador in Holland. From the beginning, Voltaire had troubles with the authorities, but he energetically attacked the government and the Catholic church. These activities led to numerous imprisonments and exiles. In his early twenties he spent eleven months in the Bastille for writing satiric verses about the aristocracy.
Voltaire did not support the dogmatic theology of institutional religions, his religiosity was anticlerical. With his brother Armand, who was a fundamentalist Catholic, Voltaire did not get on as well as with his sister. Atheism Voltaire considered not as baleful as fanaticism, but nearly always fatal to virtue. The doctrines about the Trinity or the Incarnation he dismissed as nonsense. As a humanist, Voltaire advocated religious and social tolerance, but not necessarily in a direct way. Well known is Voltaire's hostility toward the Jews. His play LE FANATISME, OU MAHOMET LE PROPHÈTE (1741), which portrayed the founder of Islam as an intriguer and greedy for power, was denounced by Catholic clergymen. They had no doubts that the true target was Christian fanaticism. However, Pope Benedict XIV, whom Voltaire dedicated the work, replied by saying that he read it with great pleasure.
In 1716 Voltaire was arrested and exiled from Paris for five months. From 1717 to 1718 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for lampoons of the Regency. During this time he wrote the tragedy ŒDIPE, and started to use the name Voltaire. The play brought him fame which did not lessen the number of his enemies at court.
At his 1726 stay at the Bastille, Voltaire was visited by a flow of admirers. Between 1726 and 1729 he lived in exile mainly in England. There he avoided trouble for three years and wrote in English his first essays, ESSAY UPON EPIC POETRY and ESSAY UPON THE CIVIL WARS IN FRANCE, which were published in 1727. After returning to France Voltaire wrote plays, poetry, historical and scientific treatises and became royal historiographer. HISTOIRE DE CHARLES XII (1731) used novelistic technique and rejected the idea that divine intervention guides history. In 1734 appeared Voltaire's Philosophical Letters in which he compared the French system of government with the system he had seen in England. Voltaire stated that he had perceived fewer barriers between occupations in England than in his own country. The book was banned, and Voltaire was forced to flee Paris. The English edition became a bestseller outside France.

"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other." (from Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764)

Voltaire's economic situation improved substantially, when he joined a syndicate, which made a large profit with the state lottery. In addition, with lucky speculation in the Compagnie des Indes he became so wealthy, that he lent money to dukes and princes.
At the age of thirty-nine, Voltraire started his famous sixteen-year liaison with Mme du Châtelet. She was twenty-seven, married, and the mother of three children. "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did," Voltaire wrote in his memoirs, "and who decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." The Marquis du Châtelet was well aware of the affair. With madame du Châtelet Voltare lived at the Château de Cirey in 1734-36 and 1737-40. Between the years Voltaire took a refuge in Holland (1736-37). Mme du Châtelet, who was a mathematician and scientist, translated Newton's Principia Mathematica and Voltaire wrote ELÉMENTS DE LA PHILOSOPHIE DE NEWTON. Voltaire nicknamed her "Mme Neuton Pompom."
In 1740 Voltaire was an ambassador-spy in Prussia, then in Brussels (1742-43), and in 1748 he was at the court of King Stanislas in Lunéville. From 1745 to 1750 he was a historiographer to Louis XV and in 1746 he was elected to the French Academy. In Paris, Voltaire had a new mistress, Marie-Louise Denis, his eldest niece. At the invitation of Fredrick the Great, Voltaire moved in 1750 to Berlin, realizing eventually that the ruler was more enlightened in theory than in practice.
Voltaire settled in 1755 in 1755 in Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life, apart from trips to France. He had his own château, Les Delices, outside Geneva, and later at nearby Ferney, in France. Anybody of note, from Boswell to Casanova, wanted to visit the place; Voltaire's conversations with visitors were recorded and published and he was flattered by kings and nobility. "Common sense is not so common," Voltaire wrote.
Voltaire's official publishers were Gabriel and Philibert Cramer from Geneve. They operated from Stockholm to Naples, and from Venice to Lisbon and Paris, spreading the ideas of Enlightenment. As an essayist Voltaire defended freedom of speech and religious tolerance. In his DICTIONNAIRE PHILOSOPHIQUE (1764) he defined the ideal religion – it would teach very little dogma but much morality. Voltaire's thoughts were condemned in Paris, Geneva, and Amsterdam. For safety reasons Voltaire denied his authorship.
In his late years Voltaire produced several anti-religious writing. In Ferney he built a chapel with the inscription 'Deo Erexit Voltaire' inscribed on the lintel. He also led campaign to open up a trial, in which the Huguenot merchant Jean Calas was found guilty of murdering his eldest son and executed. The parliament at Paris declared afterwards in 1765 Calas and all his family innocent. – (See also the writer Emile Zola, who defended falsely accused Alfred Dreyfus in his open letter J'accuse in 1898.)
Voltaire died in Paris on May 30, 1778, as the undisputed leader of the Age of Enlightenment. He had suffered throughout his life from poor health, but at the time of his death he was eighty-four. Voltaire left behind him over fourteen thousand known letters and over two thousand books and pamphlets. Among his best-known works is the satirical short story CANDIDE (1759), which reflected the nihilism of Jonathan Swift. In the story the young and innocent hero, Candide, experiences a long series of misfortunes and disastrous adventures. He is kicked out of the castle of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh for making love to the baron's daughter, Cunégonde, in the army he is beaten nearly to death, in Lisbon he experiences the famous earthquake, he is hunted by the Inquisition and Jesuits, and threatened with imprisonment in Paris. Meanwhile Cunégonde's father, mother and brother are hacked to pieces by invaders, and she is raped repeatedly. Eventually Candide marries Cunégonde, who has become an ugly gummy-eyed, flat-chested washerwoman, with wrinkled cheeks."If this is the best of possible worlds," Voltaire wrote, "what then are the others." Finally Candide finds the pleasures of cultivating one's garden - "Il faut cultiver notre jardin."
Candide's world is full of liars, traitors, ingrates, thieves, misers, killers, fanatics, hypocrites, fools and so on. However, Voltaire's outrage is not based on social criticism but on his ironic view of human nature. When Candide asks his friend Martin, does he believe that men have always massacred one another, Martin points out that hawks eat pigeons. " – Well, said Martin, if hawks have always had the same character, why do you suppose that men have changed?" Candide rejects the philosophy of his tutor, the unsuccessfully hanged Doctor Pangloss, who claims that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds" (see Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz). Candide was partly inspired by the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755, Dr. Pangloss was allegedly a caricature of Leibniz, but it is possible that the real model was Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759), a French philosopher and scientist. The prolific writer produced a number of studies from the physics of Venus to the proof of the existence of God. Voltaire's L'HISTOIRE DU DOCTOEUR AKAKIA ET DU NATIF DE SAINT-MALO (1753) openly ridiculed Maupertuis' ideas. Candide's narrative frame, the education of a young man, was again utilized among others in Stendhal's The Red and the Black and Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. Leonard Bernstein made Candide a musical comedy in 1957.
In addition to Candide, Voltaire treated the problem of evil in his classic tale ZADIG (1747), set in the ancient Babylon, and in 'Poem of the Lisbon' Earthquake'. "But how conceive a God supremely good," Voltaire asked in the poem, "Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves, / Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?" MICROMÉGAS (1752) was an early science-fiction story, in which two ambassadors from the outer space visit Earth, and witness follies of human thought and behavior. Voltaire possibly wrote the conte already in 1738-39. It has similarities with 'Voyage du Baron Gangan', which he sent to Fredrick the Great.
Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique was burned with the young Chevalier de la Barre, who had neglected to take of his hat while passing a bridge, where a sacred statue was exposed. Later Voltaire introduced his Dictionary as a dialogical book: its short, polemical articles were more useful when "the readers produce the other half". In Essay on the Manner and Spirit of Nations, Voltaire presented the first modern comparative history of civilizations, including Asia. Later he returned to the Chinese philosophy is his Dictionary, praising the teachings of Confucius: "What more beautiful rule of conduct has ever been given man since the world began? Let us admit that there has been no legislator more useful to the human race."

For further reading: Voltaire by R. Aldington (1934); Voltaire: Bibliographie de ses oeuvres by Georges Bengesco (1953); Voltaire in Love by Nancy Mitford (1957); Voltaire by Gustave Lanson (1966); Quarante Années d'études voltairiennes by Mary Margaret H. Barr (1968); Voltaire by Theodore Besterman (1969); The Intellectual Development of Voltaire by Ira O. Wade (1969); Voltaire ou la royauté de l'espirit by Jean Orieux (1978); Voltaire by Peyton Richter (1980); Voltaire en sons temps, 5 vols., ed. by René Pomeau (1985-94); Voltaire Revisited by Bettina Liebowitz Knapp (2000) Voltaire in Exile by Ian Davidson (2005) - SEE ALSO: Cyrano de Bergerac - Film Voltaire (1933), dir. by John G. Adolfi, screenplay by Paul Green, Maude T. Howell, from the novel by George Gibbs and E. Lawrence Dudley, starring George Arliss, Doris Kenyon, Margaret Lindsay, Alan Mowbray. "One man dared to speak out for the rights of an oppressed people... He educated the masses to think and act... This man - a hundred years ahead of his time - was Voltaire... The great humanitarian of the 18th century." (from the introductory title) - The story focused on the Calas case - a wealthy merchant was wrongly executed by Louis XV. Voltaire is portrayed as a royalist, he has access to the King through his friendship with Mme de Pompadour. Louis himself is a bumbling individual, behind the execution is Count de Sarnac who is in league with Frederick the Great.

Selected works:

• ŒDIPE, 1718 (tragedy)
• ARTÉMISE, 1720 (drama)
• LA HENRIADE, 1723 - The Henriad: a Poem (tr. Charles L. S. Jones, 1834) / The Henriade; with the Battle of Fontenoy, Dissertations on Man, Law of Nature, Destruction of Lisbon, Temple of Taste, and Temple of Friendship (ed by O. W. Wight, A. M., 1859)
• Essay on Epic Poetry, 1727 (tr. by Florence D. White) / Critical Essays on Dramatic Poetry - L'ESSAI SUR LA POÉSIE ÉPIQUE, 1765
• HÉRODE ET MARIAMNE, 1725 (tragedy)
• L'INDISCRET, 1725 (comedy)
• LA FÊTE DE BÉLÉBAT, 1725 (divertissement)
• Essay upon the Civil Wars in France, 1727 (tr. anonymously) - ESSAY SUR LES GUERRES CIVILES DE FRANCE, 1729
• LA HENRIADE, 1728 - The Henriad; a Poem; with the Notes and Variations (tr. Charles L. S. Jones)
• LE POUR ET LE CONTRE, 1728
• BRUTUS, 1730 (tragedy, publ. 1731)
• HISTOIRE DE CHARLES XII, 1731 - The History of Charles the XIIth, King of Sweden (tr. from the last Geneva ed. of M. de Voltaire, by W.S. Kenrick) / History of Charles XII (with a life of Voltaire by Lord Brougham; and critical notices by Lord Macaulay and Thomas Carlyle; ed. by O.W. Wight, 1859) / History of Charles XII (tr. by Tobias Smollett, rev. ed. 1901) / Lion of the North, Charles XII of Sweden (tr. by M.F.O. Jenkins, 1981) - Kaarle XII:n historia (suom. O. A. Kallio)
• LES ORIGINAUX, OU MONSIEUR DU CAP-VERT, 1732 (tragedy, publ. 1820)
• ÉRYPHILE, 1732 (tragedy, publ. 1779)
• ZAÏRE, 1732 (tragedy, publ. 1733) - Zaire: a Tragedy in Verse in Five Acts, by Voltare (ed.by Charles W. Cabeen, 1910) / Zaïre (ed. by Eva Jacobs, 1975)
• SAMSON, 1733 (opera, publ. 1750)
• TANIS ET ZÉLIDE, OU LES ROIS PASTEURS, 1733 (tragedy)
• LA MORT DE CÉSAR, 1733 (tragedy, publ. 1735)
• Letters Concerning the English Nation, 1733 (tr. John Lockman) - LETTRES PHILOSOPHIQUES SUR LES ANGLAIS, 1734 (Voltaire's satirical attack among others on Descates' theory of vortices)- Philosophical Letters: Letters Regarding the English Nation (tr. Prudence L. Steiner, 2007)
• LE TEMPLE DU GOÛT, 1733 - The Temple of Taste (tr. 1734)
• ADÉLAÏDE DU GUESCLIN, 1734 (play)
• ALZIRE, 1736 (tragedy) - Alzira: a Tragedy
• L'ENFANT PRODIGUE, 1736 (drama)
• ELÉMENTS DE LA PHILOSOPHIE DE NEUTON, 1738 (with Emilie du Châtelet) - The Elements of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy (tr. by John Hanna, 1738)
• ESSAI SUR LA NATURE DU FEU, 1739
• VIE DE MOLIÈRE, 1739
• ZULIME, 1740 (tragedy, publ. 1761)
• PANDORE, 1740 (opera, publ. 1748)
• LA PRUDE, 1740 (comedy, based on William Wycherley's The Plain Dealer, 1676, publ. 1747)
• LE FANATISME, OU MAHOMET LE PROPHÈTE, 1741 (tragedy, publ. 1742) - Mahomet the Imposter (tr. 1744) / Mahomet: a Tragedy (by the Rev. Mr. Miller, tr. 1795) / Mahomet the Prophet, in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 8 (tr. O. Leigh, 1903-04) / Mahomet the Prophet; or, Fanaticism: a Tragedy in Five Acts (tr. by Robert L. Myers)
• MÉROPE, 1743 (tragedy, publ. 1744) - Merope: a Tragedy (by Aaron Hill, esq, tr. 1749)
• LA PRINCESSE DE NAVARRE, 1745 (comedy)
• LE TEMPLE DE LA GLOIRE, 1745 (comedy ballet, music Jean-Philippe Rameau)
• ZADIG, OU LA DESTINÉE, 1747 (first published as MEMNON) - Zadig; or, The Book of Fate, an Oriental History, in Miscellanies by M. de Voltaire (tr. T. Smollett, M.D. and T. Francklin, 1778) / Zadig, and Other Stories (ed. by Irving Babbitt, 1905) / Zadig, and Other Romances (translated by H. I. Woolf, 1923) / The History of Zadig; or, Destiny (tr. by R. Bruce Boswell) / Zadig. L'ingenu (tr. by John Butt, 1964) - Sallimus (suom. O. A. Kallio) - films: 1970, Les Aventures de Zadig (TV film), dir. by Claude-Jean Bonnardot, starring Gérard Depardieu; 1971, Zadig ou La destinée (TV film), dir. by Jean-Paul Carrère, starring Bernard Alane
• LE MONDE CONNU COMME IL VA, 1748 - The World As It Goes, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. V (1927) / The World As It Is, In Micromégas and Other Short Fictions (translated by Theo Cuffe, 2002)
• VISIONS DE BABOUC, 1748 - film 1966, L'Or et le plomb, dir. by Claude Nicot
• SÉMIRAMIS, 1748 (tragedy, publ. 1749)
• NANINE, OU LE PRÉJUGÉ VAINCU, 1749 (comedy) - Nanine, in Eighteen Century French Plays (ed. C.D. Brenner and N.A. Goodyear, 1927)
• LA FEMME QUI A RAISON, 1749 (comedy, publ. 1760)
• ORESTE, 1750 (tragedy)
• MEMNON, OU LA SAGASSE HUMAINE, 1750 - Memnon, The Philosopher, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. V (1927) / Memnon or Human Wisdom (tr. Peter H. Hanssen) / Memnon, in Micromégas and Other Short Fictions (translated by Theo Cuffe, 2002)
• LE SIÈCLE DE LOUIS XIV, 1751 - The Age of Louis XIV, and Other Selected Writings (tr. by J.H. Brumfitt)
• ROME SAUVÉE, OU CATALINA, 1752 (tragedy)
• MICROMÉGAS, 1752 (see also Giacomo Casanova's novel Icosameron) - Micromegas: A Comic Romance. Being a Severe Satire Upon the Philosophy, Ignorance, and Self-Conceit of Mankind (tr. 1753) / Micromegas, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. IV (1927) / Voltaire’s Micromégas (by Ira O. Wade, 1950) / Micromégas and Other Short Fictions (translated by Theo Cuffe, 2002) - Mikromegas: filosofinen kertomus (suom. Marja Haapio, 2002) / Muissa maailmoissa: maapallon ulkopuolisten olentojen kulttuurihistoriaa (suom. Jyrki Siukonen, 2003)
• DIATRIBE DU DOCTEUR ABAKIA, 1752
• L'HISTOIRE DU DOCTOEUR AKAKIA ET DU NATIF DE SAINT-MALO, 1753
• L'ORPHELIN DE LA CHINE, 1755 (tragedy) - The Orphan of China (tr. 1756)
• LA PUCELLE D'ORLÉANS, 1755 - La Pucelle, the Maid of Orleans / The Virgin of Orleans; or, Joan of Arc (tr. by Howard Nelson)
• SONGE DE PLATON, 1756 - Plato's Dream, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. V (1927) / Plato's Dream, in Micromégas and Other Short Fictions (translated by Theo Cuffe, 2002)
• HISTOIRE DES VOYAGES DE SCARMENTADO ÉCRTITE PAR LUI-MÊME, 1756 - The Travels of Scarmentado, in Micromegas, and Other Stories (tr. W. Fleming) / The History of the Travels of Scarmentado, in Micromégas and Other Short Fictions (translated by Theo Cuffe, 2002)
• ESSAI SUR L'HISTOIRE GÉNERALE ET SUR LES MOEURS ET L'ESPIRIT DES NATIONS 1756 (7 vols., rev. ed., 8 vols., 1761-63; as Essai sur les moeurs el l'espirit des nations et sur kes principaux faits de l'histoire depuis Charlemange jusqu'à Louis XIII, ed. by René Pomeau, 1963) - The General History and State of Europe (tr. Sir Timothy Waldo, 1754) / An Essay on Universal History (tr. Mr. Nugent, 1759, rev. 1782) / An Essay on the Manner and Spirit of Nations, and on the Principal Occurences in History (tr. anonymously, 1780)
• HISTOIRE DE LA GUERRE DE 1741, 1756 - The History of the War of Seventeen Hundred and Forty One (2 vols., tr. 1756)
• POÈMES SUR LE DÉSASTRE DE LISBONNE ET SUR LA NOI NATURELLE, 1756 - Poem upon the Lisbon Disaster = Poème sur le dèsastre de Lisbonne, ou, Examen de cet axiome "tout est bien" (tr. by Anthony Hecht, 1977)
• LA PAUVRE DIABLE, 1758
• SOCRATE, 1759 (drama) - Socrates, in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 8 (tr. O.Leigh, 1903-04)
• CANDIDE, 1759 - Candide / Candidus; or, All for the Best / The History of Candid / Candide: or, The Optimist / Candide; or, Optimism (transl. Robert M. Adams; Richard Aldington; Lowell Bair; Peter Constantine; Donald M. Frame; Peter Gay; Elizabeth Cooney Leister; Henry Morley, LL.D.; Roger Pearson; Tobias Smollett; Shane Weller; David Wootton) - Candide eli avosydämisen ja vilpittömän nuoren miehen ihmeelliset seikkailut (suom. L. Onerva) / Candide (suom. J. A. Hollo) - films: 1960, Candide ou l'optimisme au XXe siècle, dir. by Norbert Carbonnaux, starring Jean-Pierre Cassel, Pierre Brasseur; TV film 1962, dir. by Pierre Brasseur, starring Claude Nicot; 1980 (TV film), libretto by Hugh Wheeler, starring Mark Eisler, John Lankston; 1988, Dandy, dir. by Peter Sempel, 1989 (TV film), dir. by Peter Sempel, starring Jerry Hadley; 1994, Prostodushnyy, dir. by Yevgeni Ginzburg, screenplay by Kim Ryzhov; 1994, Cultivating Charlie, dir. by Alex Georges; 2003, Leonard Bernstein: Candide (TV film), dir. by Fritz Zeilinger, play by Hugh Wheeler, starring Donald George, Thomas Gazheli, Cornelia Götz
• HISTOIRE DE LS RUSSIE SOUS PIERRE LE GRAND, 1759-63 - The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great (tr. 1764) / Life of Peter the Great (tr. by J. Johnson, 1780) / Russia under Peter the Great (tr. by M.F.O. Jenkins, 1983)
• LA VANITÉ, 1760
• LE RUSSE À PARIS, 1760
• LE CAFÉ, OU L'ÉCOSSAISE, 1760 (comedy) - The Coffee-House (tr. 1760)
• TANCRÈDE, 1761 (tragedy, prod. 1760) - TV film 1992, dir. by Claus Viller, libretto Gaetano Rossi, starring Bernadette Manca di Nissa
• DON PEDRE, ROI DE CASTILLE, ca. 1761 (play, publ. 1775)
• COLLECTION COMPLÉTE DES ŒUVRES, 1761-1764 (18 vols.)
• The Works of Mr. de Voltaire. Translated from the French. With Notes Historical and Critical. By Dr. Smollet and Others, 1761-1765, 1769 (35 vols., later edition 38 vols., 1778-1781)
• PIÈCES ORIGINALES CONCERNANT LA MORT DES SIEURS DE CALAS, 1762
• LE DROIT DU SEIGNEUR, 1763 (comedy, prod. 1762)
• SAÜL, 1763 (drama)
• OLYMPIE, 1763 (tragedy, prod. 1764)
• TRAITÉ SUR LA TOLÉRANCE, 1763 - Treatise on Toleration (tr. David William, 1779) / A Treatise on Toleration and Other Essays (tr. Joseph McCabe, 1994) / Treatise on Tolerance (tr. Brian Masters)
• LE BLANC ET LE NOIR, 1764 - The Black and the White, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. V (1927)
• JEANNOT ET COLIN, 1764 - Jeannot and Colin, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. V (1927)
• CONTES DE GIULLAME DE VADÉ, 1764
• THÉÂTRE DE P. CORNEILLE AVEC SES COMMENTAIRES, 1764
• JULES-CÉSAR, 1764 (tragedy, based on William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar)
• DANS CETTE VIE TOUT EST VÉRITE ET TOUT MENSONGE, 1764 (comedy)
• DICTIONNAIRE PHILOSOPHIQUE PORTATIF, 1764 (rev. ed. 1765, La Raison par alphabet, 2 vols., 1769, Questions sul l'Encyclopédie, 9 vols., 1770-72; ed. by Julien Benda and Raymond Naves, 1961; Béatrice Didier, 1994) - Philosophical Dictionary (tr. Alex. Holmes, 1819; H.I. Woolf, 1945; Peter Gay, 2 vols., 1962; Theodore Besterman, 1971)
• RELATION DE LA MORT DU CHEVALIER DE LA BARRE, 1766-68
• ESSAI HISTORIQUE ET CRITIQUE SUR LES DISSENSIONS DES ÉGLISES DE POLOGNE, 1767
• LE PHILOSOPHE IGNORANT, 1767 - The Ignorant Philosopher, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. VIII (1927)
• OCTAVE ET LE JEUNE POMPÉE, 1767 (tragedy, prod. 1764)
• LES SCYTHES, 1767 (tragedy)
• CHARLOT, OU LA COMTESSE DE GIVRY, 1767 (drama)
• DÉFENSE DE MON ONCLE, 1767 - A Defence of My Uncle (tr. 1768)
• L'INGENU, 1767 - The Innocent / The Sincere Huron: a True History (tr. 1786) / The Huron, or Pupil of Nature, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. IV (1927) / Zadig. L'ingenu (tr. by John Butt) - Luonnonlapsi (J. A. Hollo) - films: 1921, prod. by Bernini Film, dir. by Giorgio Ricci; 1972, dir. by Norbert Carbonnaux, starring Renaud Verley; 1975, dir. by Jean-Pierre Marchand, starring Jean-Claude Drouot ...
• PROFESSION DE FOI DES THÉISTES, 1768
• SINGULARITÈS DE LA NATURE, 1768 -
• DROITS DES HOMMES, 1768
• L'HOMME AUX QUARANTE ÉCUS, 1768 - The Man of Forty Crowns, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. VI (1927)
• PRÉCIS DU RÈGNE DE LOUIS XV, 1768
• DIEU ET LES HOMMES, 1769
• LA PRINCESSE DE BABYLONE, 1769 - The Princess of Babylon, in Miscellanies by M. de Voltaire (tr. T. Smollett, M.D. and T. Francklin, 1778) / The Princess of Babylon, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. II (1927)
• LE DÉPOSITAIRE, 1769 (play, publ. 1772)
• LES GUÈBRES, 1769 (tragedy)
• HISTOIRE DU PARLEMENT DE PARIS, 1769
• ÉPÎTRE À L'AUTEUR DU LIVRE DES TROIS IMPOSTEURS, 1770
• QUESTIONS SUR L'ENCYCLOPÉDIE, 1770-72
• SOPHONISBE, 1770 (tragedy, revision of Jean Mairet's play, prod. 1774)
• LES PÉLOPIDES, 1772 (tragedy)
• LES LOIS DE MINOS, 1773 (tragedy)
• FRAGMENTS UR L'INDE EY SUR LE GÉNÉRAL LALLI, 1773 - Fragments on India (translated by Freda Bedi)
• LE TAUREAU BLANC, 1774 - The White Bull, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. II (1927) / The White Bull, with Saul and Various Short Pieces (translated by C. E. Vulliamy)
• LES OREILLES DU COMTE DE CHESTERFIELD, 1775 - Lord Chesterfield’s Cars, a True Story (tr. 1826) / Lord Cherterfield's Ears, in Micromégas and Other Short Fictions (translated by Theo Cuffe, 2002)
• L'HISTOIRE DE JENNI OU LE SAGE ET L'ETHÉE, 1775 - The Sage and the Atheist, in The Complete Romances of Voltaire, vol. VI (1927)
• PRIX DE LA JUSTICE ET DE L'HUMANITÉ, 1777
• ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES, 1877-85 (52 vols., ed. by L. Moland)
• IRÈNE, 1779 (play, prod. 1778)
• AGOTHOCLE, 1779 (tragedy)
• MÉMOIRES POUR SERVIR À LA VIE DE VOLTAIRE, 1784 - Memoirs of the Life of Monsieur de Voltaire (tr. by Andrew Brown)
• ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES, 1784-89 (70 vols., ed. by P. de Beaumarchais, the Marquis de Concordet, and J.-J.-M. Decroix)
• THÉATRE, 1809 (9 vols.)
• LE DUC D'ALGENÇON, OU LES AGRÉMENTS DU DROIT D'AÎNESSE, 1826 (comedy)
• Voltaire and the Enlightenment, 1931 (tr. Norman L. Torrey)
• Selections, 1969 (ed. by Paul Edwards)
• Voltaire on Religion, 1974
• ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES, 1983-94 (84 vols. projected)
• DICTIONNAIRRE DE LA PENSÉE DE VOLTAIRE PAR LUI-MÊME, 1994 (ed. by André Versaille)