Abstract
In the history of scholarly practice, Voltaire stands out among eighteenth-century authors for his critical attitude towards erudite reading habits. His contempt for the "compilateurs" is a radical expression of the Enlightenment desire to write free of the traditions and burdens of the past. His famous interventions in Ancien Régime court cases are also emblematic of the action-oriented philosophy of the period. This article investigates the role played in the case of the Chevalier de La Barre by documents that Voltaire called "excerpts." The case was the last Voltaire was involved in and concerned a young man, charged with blasphemy, who was eventually beheaded and burnt in 1766, Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764) nailed to his torso. With reference to two texts in particular-Relation de la mort du chevalier de La Barre (1766) and Le Cri du sang innocent (1775)-I focus on Voltaire's practice of excerpting from the court transcripts and on their specific role in his fight for the rehabilitation of the victims.
Highlights
Summary: In the history of scholarly practice, Voltaire stands out among eighteenth-century authors for his critical attitude towards erudite reading habits. His contempt for the “compilateurs” is a radical expression of the Enlightenment desire to write free of the traditions and burdens of the past
His famous interventions in Ancien RØgime court cases are emblematic of the action-oriented philosophy of the period
This article investigates the role played in the case of the Chevalier de La Barre by documents that Voltaire called “excerpts.” The case was the last Voltaire was involved in and concerned a young man, charged with blasphemy, who was eventually beheaded and burnt in 1766, Voltaire’s Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764) nailed to his torso
Summary
There can be no doubt that Voltaire was a tireless and erudite reader. A large but little-known part of his oeuvre consists of commentaries based on close readings of the works of ancient and modern authors from Sophocles to Newton, Bayle, Pascal, Montesquieu, etc. In some of these, such as his notes on the Bible—La Bible enfin expliquØe—or his three-volume critique of Pierre Corneille’s plays— Commentaires sur Corneille—his readings consist of precise line-by-line commentaries Many of his late works, such as the Dictionnaire philosophique portatif or the Questions sur l’EncyclopØdie par des amateurs, take the form of dictionaries with entries made up of synopses and quotations. A reference in one of his letters to a “plum-pudding”7—a number of different ingredients from various provenances, mixed up to produce a rich and tasty dessert—hardly suggests systematic working methods, and Christiane Mervaud, who edited Voltaire’s work for the standard edition of The Voltaire Foundation, has pointed out the aptness of the metaphor for describing his quotation practice Going further still, she calls the Dictionnaire philosophique portatif an “œuvre cannibale” and compares its author’s reading practice to that of a looter.
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