Micromegas and Other Short Fictions

by Voltaire, Francois (Author); Cuffe, Theo (Translator); Mason, Haydn (Introduction by)

• ISBN13: 9780140446869
• ISBN10: 0140446869
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and naïve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Micromégas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in "The World as It Is" learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These "fables of reason" challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.

Author Biography

François Marie Arouet. who took the name Voltaire (1694-1778), was the universal genius of the Enlightenment. In his early career, he was briefly committed to the Bastille and later exiled to England. His most characteristic works are philosophical tales, of which Candide (1759) is the most famous.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chronology of Voltaire's Life and Times
Further Reading
Note on the Texts
Translator's Note
Cuckoldage	p. 3
The One-eyed Porter	p. 5
Cosi-Sancta	p. 11
Micromegas	p. 17
The World As It Is	p. 36
Memnon	p. 52
Letter from a Turk	p. 57
Plato's Dream	p. 60
The History of the Travels of Scarmentado	p. 63
The Consoler and the Consoled	p. 70
The Story of a Good Brahmin	p. 72
Pot-Pourri	p. 75
An Indian Incident	p. 91
Lord Chesterfield's Ears	p. 93
Account of the Illness, Confession, Death and Apparition of the Jesuit Berthier	p. 113
Dialogue between a Savage and a Graduate	p. 123
Dialogue between Ariste and Acrotal	p. 129
The Education of Daughters	p. 133
Wives, Submit Yourselves to Your Husbands	p. 135
Dialogue between the Cock and the Hen	p. 139
Conversation between Lucian, Erasmus and Rabelais, in the Elysian Fields	p. 143
Notes	p. 148
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