Voltaire, the wit of tales

Candide kills the Jew in love with Cunegonde (Voltaire, Kehl t44, 1785)

Presentation

It was through theater that Voltaire conquered fame. The Essai sur les mœurs was his life's work. And it was his fight for tolerance, against fanaticism, that propelled him onto the emerging European media scene. Who could have imagined, given his brilliant career, that his short stories, hastily bound and written for laughs, would be the texts that posterity would remember most? Voltaire himself would be astonished to learn that Candide, Zadig, L'Ingénu, came to define, beyond his own person, the entire Age of Enlightenment, and with it a certain French spirit. It is this spirit that we shall endeavor to understand and explain in this course, a spirit that founds the Enlightenment and at the same time traces its limits and end.

Editions

First editions

Zadig was first published in 1747, under the title Memnon, histoire orientale ; Candide appeared in January 1759  L'Ingénu dates from 1767.

Éditions au programme pour l'agrégation 2020

Voltaire, Zadig et autres contes orientaux, ed. J. Goldzink, Pocket, 1990, 1998

Voltaire, Candide ou l'Optimisme, ed. J. Goldzink, GF Flammarion, 2007

Voltaire, L'Ingénu, ed. J. Goldzink, GF Flammarion, 2009

Edition of the Complete Works of Voltaire

Zadig, ou la destinée, Critical edition by Haydn T. Mason, in Œuvres de 1746-1748 (II), vol. 30b, Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 2004, p. 65-234

Candide ou l'optimisme, critical ed. by René Pomeau, vol. 48, Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 1980

L'Ingénu, Critical edition by Richard A. Francis, vol. 63c, Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 2006

Program

Part One. Aesthetics and politics of revolt

• September 11 : The tale and the novel

  Explanation : Zadig, Epître dédicatoire à la sultane Sheraa, p. 23-24

• September 25 : the heroism of the spirit

  Explanation : The heroic butchery. Candide, chap. 3, " How Candide saved himself from among the Bulgarians, and what became ", p. 43-46

• September 27 (agrégation interne) : l'hospitalité des choses (le rapport au réel)

  Explanation : Zadig, The nose, p. 28-30

• October 9 : the word and the event

  Explanation : L'Ingénu, chap. 20, " La belle Saint-Yves dies, and what happens ", p. 130-138

A sultana taking coffee presented to her by a negress - Carle Vanloo

Part Two. The tale put to the test of globalization

• October 23 : the oriental model. Essay due

  Explanation : Zadig, " Les généreux ", p. 38-40

• November 13 : difference and globalisation

  Explanation : /// Candide, chap. 4, genealogy of the pox, p. 47

• November 15 (agrégation interne)

  Explanation : Le nègre de Surinam. Candide, chap. 19, " What happened to them in Surinam and how Candide became acquainted with Martin ", p. 94-99

• Saturday November 23 : Slaven Waelti, " Optimism and optimum "

Part Three. Morality and terror

• November 27. The other side of tragedy

  Explanation : Zadig, " L'ermite ", p. 84-90

• January 8. Dramaturgies of persecution

  Explanation : L'Ingénu, chap. 10, " L'Ingénu enfermé à la Bastille avec un Janséniste ", p. 85-92

• January 22. The age of terror

  Explanation : The Lisbon earthquake. Candide, chap. 6, " How a fine auto-da-fé was made, to prevent earthquakes, and how Candide was spanked "

" but we must cultivate our garden " (Voltaire, Candide, 1893) - Adrien Moreau

Dissertation due October 23

See the topic on Ametice.

Dissertation to be prepared for training TD

See topic on Ametice.

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