Voltaire Almighty - A Life in Pursuit of Freedom
by Roger Pearson
Bloomsbury, HK$135
There's a look of mischief about Voltaire in the illustrations selected for Richard Pearson's enjoyable biography Voltaire Almighty. The Oxford professor of French does justice to Voltaire's formidable wit, although he tends to be too informative in his attention to detail. Voltaire loved life and had the moral courage to live it on his terms, even at risk of incarceration in the Bastille, which he got to know on two occasions. He believed in God - 'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him' - but saw no need for churches and organised religion - 'Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them.' Voltaire's ideas on liberty, tolerance, reason and justice took time to take hold - 'Common sense is not so common'. Little of Voltaire's writing sparkles as it did 250 years ago, but Candide, his 1759 satirical work, still resonates. Voltaire lived to the age of 89, which annoyed aristocrats no end - not least because the philosopher, feigning ill health, had lent them money in return for an annuity.