Frédéric Deloffre Volgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)

On sait tout de Candide, sauf une chose : quel rapport l'auteur avait-il avec ses personnages ? Les a-t-il imaginés ou connus ? A-t-il partagé certaines de leurs aventures ? Est-il caché dans un coin du roman pour les observer ? Ce regard que Voltaire pouvait porter de l'intérieur sur sa création, c'est justement celui qu'au-delà des connaissances acquises, on a eu l'audace de tenter de porter sur Candide. Cette édition change l'interprétation du plus étudié, mais aussi de plus secret des contes voltairiens. Il s'y présente de façon nouvelle. Ce n'est plus seulement, comme on l'a dit, un «catalogue de tous les malheurs humains», mis au service d'une campagne «philosophique» contre la doctrine de la providence. C'est, dans sa genèse et dans sa structure, un voyage sentimental au pays de la mémoire.

The sweetness of her glance, or rather my evil star already in its ascendant and drawing me to my ruin, did not allow me to hesitate for a moment." So begins the story of Manon Lescaut, a tale of passion and betrayal, of delinquency and misalliance, which moves from early eighteenth-century Paris--with its theatres, assemblies, and gaming-houses-via prison and deportation to a tragic denouement in the treeless wastes of Louisiana. It is one of the great love stories, and also one of the most enigmatic: how reliable a witness is Des Grieux, Manon's lover, whose tale he narrates? Is Manon a thief and a whore, the image of love itself, or a thoroughly modern woman? Prevost is careful to leave the ambiguities unresolved, and to lay bare the disorders of passion. This new translation includes the vignette and eight illustrations that were approved by Prevost and first published in the edition of 1753.

All the world's an Xbox and you're a playerCandide is an optimist. A dreamer. He believes that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. But that belief is about to be tested as Candide's comfortable life is overtaken by an endless barrage of misfortune.First published in 1759, the story traces the journey of a young man who leads a sheltered life, believing that mankind lives in the best of all possible worlds and that everything happens for the best. But Candide's happiness comes to a sharp end when he is unfairly evicted from his uncle's castle for kissing his cousin and true love, Lady Cunégonde. Cast out into the big wide world, Candide is forced to confront reality.As his world collapses around him, we are transported across the centuries to new locations and parallel universes. How will Candide's optimism fare when it collides with life in the twenty-first century?

In the title tale of this original collection, Voltaire addresses the social and political problems of his own day in an ancient Babylonian setting. "Zadig" challenges 18th-century religious orthodoxy by portraying life's vicissitudes as the product of destiny rather than individual choices. Additional selections of the Enlightenment philosopher's short fiction include "Micromegas," "The World As It Is," "Jeannot and Colin," and other stories.