Voltaire and the Century of Light
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Taking an approach different from (hat of earlier biographers, A. Owen Aldridge examines Voltaire's literary and intellectual career chronologically, using the methods both of comparative literature and of the history of ideas. The resulting biography portrays a fascinating personality as well as a great writer and thinker. Voltaire is revealed not only through his correspondence, here extensively quoted, but through the statements others made about him in anecdotes, memoirs, and other contemporary documents.
New information is introduced regarding Voltaire's sojourn in England, his later relations with English men of letters, his domestic turmoils at the court of Frederick the Great, and his contact with French contemporaries such as Montesquieu and Diderot. For the first time in any biography, attention is given to Voltaire's extensive knowledge of Spanish literature and its influence on his own work, particularly Candide. Voltaire is portrayed as a conscious participant in the Enlightenment. In his early years he was interested primarily in aesthetics and abstract philosophy; later, he passionately dedicated himself to humanitarian causes with ideological implications. Professor Aldridge brings forward evidence pointing to the contrast between these two periods in Voltaire's life.
Originally published in 1975.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Alfred Owen Aldridge
Alfred Owen Aldridge (1915-2005) was a professor of French and comparative literature, founder-editor of the journal Comparative Literature Studies, and author of books on a wide range of literature studies. He was born in Buffalo, New York on December 16, 1915. He was awarded degrees by Indiana University, the University of Georgia for his M.S., and Duke University, where he took his Ph.D. In 1952-1953 he had started the Fulbright Program in France, which led to his undertaking a second doctorate, on the subject of “La Littérature Comparée” which he completed at the University of Paris in 1955. Following his doctorates he was employed in the department of English at the University of Maryland, then in 1967 became professor of French and comparative literature at the University of Illinois. Dr. Aldridge published widely and became well-known as a pioneer of colonial American literary studies and as an explorer of East-West literary relations. He served as president of the American Comparative Literature Association. In 1963, together with Melvin J. Friedman, he founded the journal Comparative Literature Studies, which he edited or co-edited for many years. He retired in 1986 and, following his retirement, his lifetime’s work was awarded the unusual honor by his colleagues of three festschrifts: Deism, Masonry and the Enlightenment: Essays Honoring Alfred Owen Aldridge (1987) by J. A. Leo Lemay (ed.); Aesthetics and the Literature of Ideas: Essays in Honor of A. Owen Aldridge (1990) by François Jost and Melvin J. Friedman (eds.); and Crosscurrents in the Literatures of Asia and the West: Essays in Honor of A. Owen Aldridge (1997) by Masayuki Akiyama and Yiu-nam Leung (eds.). Dr. Aldridge died on January 29, 2005, aged 89. The A. Owen Aldridge Prize, an annual prize-paper written by a graduate student and published by Comparative Literature Studies, was established in his memory.
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