A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary

ISBN-13: 9780199553631 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 272 str.

Voltaire

Opis

Here is the only available English translation of one of the landmarks of European Enlightenment thought, Voltaire's 1764 edition of A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary. Highly entertaining and still highly relevant, the "dictionary" actually consists of a sequence of short essays, arranged in alphabetical order, covering everything from Apocalypse and Atheism to Tolerance and Tyranny. The unifying thread of these articles is Voltaire's vitriolic critique of established religion: ridicule of established dogma, attacks on superstition, and pleas for toleration. Witty and ironic, this is very much a work of combat, part of Voltaire's high-profile political struggle in the 1760s to defend the victims of religious and political intolerance. This new translation is based on the definitive French edition of 1764 that provoked widespread controversy and condemnation. In his Introduction Nicholas Cronk considers the nature of Voltaire's engagement in political debate, literary style, contemporary reaction, the lasting impact of the work and its continuing relevance to debates on religious intolerance. The volume also includes an up-to-date bibliography and full explanatory notes.

Recenzje

In John Fletcher's wonderfully luminous translation, the Dictionnaire philosophique portatif is like a breath of fresh air... Nicholas Cronk's discreet, helpful introduction and notes direct us to Voltaire's main concern: religion.

O autorze

John Fletcher was Professor of European Literature at the University of East Anglia from 1969 to 1998. His other translations include The Georgics by Claude Simon (Calder, 1989) and The Red Cross and the Holocaust by Jean-Claude Favez (CUP, 1999). Nicholas Cronk is the General Editor of the Complete Works of Voltaire published by the Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire (CUP, 2009). For Oxford World's Classics he has introduced and annotated Cyrano de Bergerac , Diderot's Rameau's Nephew and First Satire, and Voltaire's Letters concerning the English Nation.