Complete Works of Voltaire, 57A: Writings of 1763–1764 ed. by Simon Davies, Graham Gargett, James Hanrahan (review)

Voltaire’s great campaign against l’infâme began in the years 1763–64, which saw the publication of the Traité sur la tolérance and the Dictionnaire philosophique. This volume presents various lesser-known writings from the same period, demonstrating the variety of his interests and concurrent activities. The first six texts, edited by Simon Davies, all relate to a series of writings collectively referred to as the pompignades, written to attack his adversary Jean-Jacques Le Franc de Pompignan, who had become an enemy of the philosophes since his discours de réception at the Académie française in 1760. Three other texts in this volume relate to Jean-Jacques Le Franc de Pompignan’s brother, Jean-George, who had attacked the philosophes in his Instruction pastorale (1763), which triggered Voltaire’s own Instruction pastorale de l’humble évêque d’Aléotopolis. This riposte was followed up by a Lettre d’un quaker à Jean-George Le Franc de Pompignan and a Seconde lettre du quaker. The three texts together seek to ridicule Jean-George and his Instruction. Another pamphlet, directed against Jean Omer Joly de Fleury, confirms the acerbic and adversarial nature of the pamphleteering of the period. The Catéchisme de l’honnête homme, edited here by Graham Gargett and Antonio Gurrado, is the text most closely related to the Traité sur la tolérance in this volume. Taking the form of a dialogue between the eponymous ‘Honnête homme’ and ‘Le Caloyer’, a monk, the text was written at the same time as the Traité, with which it shares a number of passages of biblical criticism. It is, however, shorter, and would have been easier to distribute. The ‘catechism’ of the title, used by Voltaire on a number of other occasions (p. 90), confirms its intention to ‘saper le discours chrétien en l’imitant’ (p. 91). Voltaire published the text as a translation that he attributed (through the thinly veiled use of initials) to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The text is also linked to Rousseau’s Profession de foi du vicaire Savoyard, extracts of which Voltaire published alongside the Catéchisme de l’honnête homme in the later Recueil nécessaire. The Introduction to the Catéchisme does an excellent job of contextualizing this work within Voltaire’s other works of biblical criticism, particularly the Sermon des cinquante. James Hanrahan has edited several short texts relating to the tithes of Voltaire’s property at Ferney and his legal fight, on behalf of his niece, to secure an exemption from taxation. The Introduction to these texts gives an insight into Voltaire’s benevolence towards the tenants on his lands and the machinations of raising support for his case. The short Questions proposées à qui voudra et pourra les résoudre return to the thorny issues of Voltaire’s writings on the soul. The volume is completed by the shorter verse of 1763–64 and a doubtfully attributed Compliment prononcé à l’ouverture du Théâtre-Français.