Voltaire in Love
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.17 (919 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0099528894 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-12-11 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Nancy Mitford's account of the love affair of the Enlightenment is, in the author's own words, 'a shriek from beginning to end'.. The meeting of Voltaire, successful financier, famous poet and troublemaker, and the enchanting amateur physicist and countess Emilie du Chatelet, was a meeting of both hearts and minds. In the Chateau de Cirey, the two brilliant intellects scandalised the French aristocracy with their passionate love affair and provoked revolutions both political and scientific with their groundbreaking work in literature, philosophy and physics
Mitford took pleasure in showing that the celebrated reformer was much more than a desiccated brainbox" Independent . "Mitford writes with a profound sympathy for the 17th and 18th century, and Voltaire in Love caps her career as the nonpareil popular biographer of that era" Washington Post "One of the most blissfully entertaining books in our language" New Yorker "Nancy Mitford softened the image of the leader of the French Enlightenment with a witty little book called Voltaire in Love
Nancy Mitford was born in London on November 28 1904, daughter of the second Baron Redesdale, and the eldest of six girls. While working in London during the Blitz, Nancy met and fell in love with Gaston Palewski, General de Gaulle's chief of staff, and eventually moved to Paris to be near him. Nancy contributed columns to The Lady and the Sunday Times, as well as writing a series of popular nov
Voltaire, his brilliant mistress, and the rest of the Enlightenment Nancy Mitford's Voltaire in Love is an entertaining book, full of historic characters, revealing both their best and worst attributes in politics, society, the arts, and the bedroom.The book is primarily about the long affair between Voltaire and his mistress, Mme. Emilie du Chatelet, which was certainly a meeting of two exceptionally brilliant minds of the Enlightenment. Yet the book really covers the early adult years of Voltaire and does not cover his later successes and fame.Voltaire, a graduate of Louise-le-Grand Jesuit School, was a brilliant but sarcastic student, who became popular with his witty poems an. "Voltaire is so Adorable, Do Admit!" according to P A Brown. Nancy Mitford is not the author to look to if you like your history full of facts and wars and power politics. Nancy Mitford takes a difference approach, one more concerned with how simply delightful things (especially French things) were before that really vulgar revolution took all the fun out of being an aristocrat. She sees Voltaire as not only the pre-eminent humanist philosopher and writer of his time, but also as a sentimental fool who just could not help but run off with the lovely, but rather too intellectual Marquise de Chatelet. They kept getting into all sorts of elegant French trouble with the censor. full-on boring I admit I'm fascinated by the Mitford sisters and thought I was in for a treat when I finally got around to this.Alas! It's stuffy, densely written, and fails to convey any sense of the magic and wonder of love -- or even of Voltaire's personality!Could also have used some footnotes for those of us who aren't history PhDs.