Micromegas and Other Short Fictions
Micromegas and Other Short Fictions
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Summary
A comprehensive selection of Voltaire's very brief contes and melanges: tiny feats of narrative compression, each often no more than a few pages long. Their genre is something between a tale and a polemic - more gestures than stories.
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Micromegas and Other Short Fictions by Francois Voltaire
Somewhere between tales and polemics, these funny, ribald, and inventive pieces show Voltaire doing what he does best: brilliantly challenging received wisdom, religious intolerance, and na ve optimism. Traveling through strange environments, Voltaire's protagonists are educated, often by surprise, into the complexities and contradictions of their world. Arriving on Earth from the star Sirius, the gigantic explorer Microm gas discovers a diminutive people with an inflated idea of their own importance in the universe. Babouc in The World as It Is learns that humanity is equally capable of barbarism and remarkable altruism. Other characters include a little-known god of infidelity, a pretentious graduate who invites a savage to dinner, and an Indian fakir who puts up with a bed of nails to gain the adoration of his female disciples. These fables of reason challenge the assumptions of reader and protagonist alike.
Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778) was the universal genius of the Enlightenment. In his early career he was briefly committed to the Bastille for his satires and later exiled to England. His most characteristic works are philosophical tales, of which Candide (1759) is the most famous. Theo Cuffe (translator) is also the translator of Penguin Classics' forthcoming edition of Candide. Haydn Mason (introduction and notes) is Professor of French at Bristol University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780140446869 |
| ISBN 10 | 0140446869 |
| Title | Micromegas and Other Short Fictions |
| Author | Francois Voltaire |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2002-05-30 |
| Number of pages | 208 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |