Voltaire and the Parlements of France (SVEC, June 2009) - Softcover

Hanrahan, James

 
9780729409704: Voltaire and the Parlements of France (SVEC, June 2009)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0729409708 ISBN 13: 9780729409704
Publisher: Voltaire Foundation, 2009

Synopsis

Voltaire’s turbulent relationship with the courts of law of ancien régime France reveals much about his social and political thought, but its representation in many studies of the philosophe is often simplistic and distorted. In the first in-depth study of Voltaire and the parlements James Hanrahan looks afresh at this relationship to offer a new and challenging analysis of Voltaire’s political thought and activity.

Through examination of Voltaire’s evolving representation of the parlements in his writings from La Henriade to the Histoire du parlement, Hanrahan calls into question the dominant historiography of extremes that pits Voltaire ‘defender of the oppressed’ against ‘self-interested’ magistrates. He presents a much more nuanced view of the relationship, from which the philosophe emerges as a highly pragmatic figure whose political philosophy was inseparable from his business or humanitarian interests.

In Voltaire and the ‘parlements’ of France Hanrahan opens up analysis of Voltaire’s politics, and provides a new context for future study of the writer as both historiographer and campaigner for justice.

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Review

'Voltaire and the `parlements' of France is an erudite reassessment of the philosophe's political thought across a long and prodigious lifetime; [...] its complexity and depth make it a necessary read for postgraduates and specialists in eighteenth-century studies, as well as cultural and intellectual history.' - Modern Language Review, Volume 107, Part 3 'Hanrahan provides an impressively detailed account of Voltaire's evolving views regarding the parlements after the execution of Calas in 1762.' - French Studies 'Methodiquement, rigoureusement, scrupuleusement, Hanrahan ne laisse rien au hasard, se refuse aux generalites, se demarque d'une schematisation dichotomique aisee.[...]La subtilite et la precision avec lesquelles James Hanrahan analyse les vues et la pensee politique de Voltaire sont particulierement a souligner.' - French Review

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Publisher
Voltaire Foundation
Publication date
2009
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0729409708
ISBN 13 
9780729409704
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
278