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The Age of Voltaire, the ninth volume of The Story of Civilization, is an in-depth examination of France and England in the first half of the 18th century.

The legendary ironic insightful classic by Voltaire, considered the greatest artistic genius of his era. Introducing the legendary, best-of-all-possible-worlds Pangloss. A whirlwind trip around the globe with irony, wit, insight, genius, and more at each stop.

Discover why intellectuals and historians alike consider Voltaire to be one of the most intriguing, influential, and elusive thinkers of the modern world. Focusing on the deepest, most enduring aspects of Voltaire's work and thought, but never losing sight of the colorful, fascinating man himself, these 12 lectures sketch for you a vibrant, thought-provoking vision of Voltaire as "the father of the Enlightenment" and one of the great literary personalities of all time.

If we were as tiny as ants to another being, what would they make of our philosophies? The great satirist Voltaire imagines alien visitors who have opinions. Bedtime stories are narrated by the world's most celebrated voices and written with no beginning, middle, or end so you don't stay up to hear what happens next. They're interesting enough to give your mind something to focus on, but delivered in a way that encourages sleep.

These two classic coming-of-age stories by Voltaire parody the romanticism of his day with the ruthless wit that has made him the undisputed master of social commentary. Candide, which is alternately titled Optimism, is a merciless satire and expos├ of the ideas and institutions men live by...

Candide, published simultaneously in five European capitals in 1759, became an instant bestseller and is now regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. This is a witty allegory of a young man whose optimism gives way to disillusionment after a series of terrible misfortunes...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Ben Lloyd-Hughes, best known for Divergent, Me Before You and The Inbetweeners. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Michael Wood. Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man...

Ist Optimismus gerechtfertigt? Nicht, wenn man Voltaire glauben darf. In seiner satirischen Novelle "Candide" malt der Autor ein pessimistisches Weltbild. Und was packt der Autor nicht alles in diese Geschichte! Ein unübertreffliches Beispiel reiner Erzählfreude!!!

"Dans une de ces planètes qui tournent autour de l'étoile nommée Sirius, il y avait un jeune homme de beaucoup d'esprit, que j'ai eu l'honneur de connaître dans le dernier voyage qu'il fit sur notre petite fourmilière ; il s'appelait Micromégas, nom qui convient fort à tous les grands. Il avait huit lieues de haut : j'entends, par huit lieues, vingt-quatre mille pas géométriques de cinq pieds chacun."

Zürich, im Oktober 1919: Die junge Witwe Josephine, deren soeben verstorbener Mann eine "Auskunftsstelle für vermisste Personen" betrieben hat, in dem auch sie tätig war, steht vor dem Nichts. Als sie am Abend nach der Beerdigung im verwaisten Büro überlegt, dieses aufzulösen, stürmt eine Frau herein und beauftragt sie mit der Suche nach ihrer verschwundenen Freundin. Diese ist Tänzerin im Cabaret Voltaire, der Wiege der DADA-Bewegung, wo auch die Auftraggeberin als Künstlerin arbeitet. Eigentlich will Josephine den Auftrag ablehnen.

The sharpest pen of the French Enlightenment, the author of Candide (1759)... and also a sci-fi writer two hundred years before the term existed. This volume brings together two forgotten gems from the 1750s, when Voltaire was at the height of his powers. Micromegas (1752): A...

Die Hörbuchbox "Wie ist es nun, das Leben?" aus der "Bibliothek Europa" präsentiert Meisterwerke der Literatur und Philosophie in großer Vielfalt der Genres, Themen und Epochen, kuratiert und mit individuellen Einführungen herausgegeben von Sven Görtz. Als Kinderbuch weltweit bekannt und...

"Zadig" is a work of philosophical fiction by the famous Enlightenment writer Voltaire. It is a delightful mix of political satire and insightful challenge of religious and metaphysical orthodoxy, with its main character undergoing a complete moral revolution while human life is presented as in the hands of a destiny beyond human control. Along with absolute stylistic mastery, Zadig provides insight into the nature of free will, in a story whose fast pace follows the highs and lows bestowed by Fortune on the hero.

Voltaire was a French writer famous for his wit and irony. They were his tools for launching vitriolic attacks on the established Catholic church, the adversaries of freedom of religion and expression, and on separation of church and state. His prolific writing took almost every possible literary form: plays, novels, essays, but also poems, historical and scientific works.

Candide, the illegitimate nephew of a German baron and student of eternal optimist Pangloss, is living a simple and sheltered life in "the best of all possible worlds." But when Candide falls in love with the wrong woman, his uncle's young daughter, he is exiled from the baron's castle and suffers great tragedy and catastrophe, which leaves him disillusioned and questioning the goodness of the universe.

The story follows the eponymous hero and his tutor Doctor Pangloss through a series of adventures and misfortunes, all the time doggedly attempting, against the odds, to adhere to the doctor's philosophy that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds".

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. Twenty of Voltaire's tales, dialogues and satires, each aimed at a different piece of received wisdom. It opens with three of the best known. In The World as It Goes, a young Scythian is dispatched by his tutor to observe the great city of Persepolis...

"Zadig ou la Destinée" est un conte philosophique de Voltaire, inspiré d'un conte persan. Voltaire y raconte les mésaventures et les revers de fortune d'un jeune homme né à Babylone. Ce conte se place à la confluence de trois genres littéraires : le conte de fées (mis à la mode par Perrault et les Contes des Mille et une Nuits), le roman picaresque (Zadig décrit une ascension sociale, suivie de coups du sort) et le roman sentimental (Zadig relate les tribulations de deux amants éloignés par la vie).

Voltaire's razor-sharp satire on philosophical optimism, Candide, is coupled here with another of the author's most celebrated works, Zadig. Both challenge the moral and philosophical orthodoxies of the day with humor and sly wit, while parodying the clichéd formulas of so many contemporary novels.

One of France's greatest writers, Voltaire was frequently persecuted for his ideas and as a result, spent time in the famed Bastille. He fled his native land for England in 1726, at which time he witnessed the differences between the two countries. His celebrated Letters on England was first published in that nation in 1733 and contained 24 succinct letters on subjects ranging from religion and politics, to trade, the arts, philosophy, and science.