Voltaire: Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, 32B. OEuvres de 1750-1752 (II) (review)

The longest of the pieces in this collection is a somewhat updated version of the late Theodore Besterman's critical edition of Frederick's poem L'Art de la Guerre and Voltaire's commentary on it (see SVEC 2 [1956] pp. 61–206). Besterman finds in Voltaire's detailed comments support for a scathing assessment of the diction, imagery and coherence of the poem. On the other hand, one may note Voltaire's high praise of the sustained excellence of several long passages. La Loi naturelle is edited by Haydn Mason and Thomas Wynn, who persuasively argue that, in his dissent from La Mettrie's contemptuous rejection of any 'loi naturelle', Voltaire is inspired less by Pope than by the Jansenist Louis Racine, whose anguished view of the human condition Voltaire shares but not his conception of the right response, which for Voltaire lies in an appeal to conscience and toleration (echoing Bayle?). In the introduction to his edition of the Défense de milord Boling-broke, Roland Mortier gives an interesting account of the relations between Voltaire and Bolingbroke, whom Voltaire admired. After the Englishman's death he represented him as an ally in the struggle against religious fanaticism. The pretext for the Défense was the denunciation by the mild Swiss pastor Formey of the progress of unbelief. In reply, Voltaire defends deism, or religion without revelation, as plain commonsense. Claude Lauriol undertakes the daunting task of giving a clear account of the preposterously complicated, venomous and futile free-for-all between La Beaumelle, Voltaire and Maupertuis over La Beaumelle's alleged irreverent comparison of the men of letters at Frederick's court to 'nains et bouffons'. Voltaire's review, edited here by David Beeson, of the Œuvres de M. de Maupertuis in the Bibliothèque raisonnée, marks the beginning of Voltaire's campaign against Maupertuis, which culminated in the Histoire du docteur Akakia. Voltaire's review of Maupertuis's works undermines them by ridiculous over-simplification, misrepresents speculation as firm thesis, implies that the ideas are often commonplace and criticises the style as indecent or extravagant. Two appendices conclude this collection of pieces. The text of Le Tombeau de la Sorbonne, which was attributed to Voltaire, is edited by Olivier Ferret, who prefaces his discussion of the work with an account of 'l'affaire de l'abbé de Prades', which forms its context. Prades's doctoral thesis, having been formally approved, was condemned by the Sorbonne. Prades composed a ponderous Apologie and it has been widely agreed that it is this that Le Tombeau de la Sorbonne resembles in style and manner rather than a work by Voltaire. On further examination, however, Ferret considers it likely that Voltaire had a hand in its writing. The second appendix is furnished by Nicholas Cronk with his concise discussion of the authorship of La Connaissance des beautés . . . dans la langue française, observing that it was long attributed to Voltaire but can now with certainty be considered apocryphal. He concurs with Besterman's attribution of the work to David Durand, a refugee Huguenot minister in London.