Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. His polemics witheringly satirized intolerance and religious dogma, as well as the French institutions of his day. His best-known work and magnum opus, Candide, is a novella that comments on, criticizes, and ridicules many events, thinkers and philosophies of his time, most notably Gottfried Leibniz and his belief that our world is of necessity the "best of all possible worlds".
Datos clave
- Born: November 21, 1694 in Paris, Kingdom of France
- Fallecimiento: 1778
- Campo: Literature
Legado e impacto
The influence of Voltaire extends far beyond his own lifetime. He fundamentally shaped literature and the written word, and his written works and literary innovations remain foundational to this day.
Though he passed away in 1778, his ideas continue to be studied, debated, and built upon by scholars and practitioners worldwide.
Voltaire sigue siendo una de las mentes más celebradas surgidas de France, prueba del rico legado intelectual de la región.
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