François Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. He received an excellent education at a Jesuit school. From 1711 to 1713 he studied law and then worked as a secretary to the French ambassador in Holland before devoting himself entirely to writing. His essays did not gain the approval of authorities, but he energetically attacked the government and the Catholic church, which caused him numerous imprisonments and exiles.
During his first eleven months in prison he wrote his first major play, Oedipe, which achieved great success in 1718. He adopted his pen name Voltaire the same year. From 1726 to 1729 he lived in exile England.. After his return to Paris he wrote plays, poetry, historical and scientific treatises and became royal historiographer. In 1734 appeared his Philosophical Letters in which he compared the French system of government with the system he had seen in England. The book was banned, and Voltaire was forced to flee Paris, but the English edition became a British bestseller.
In 1759 Voltaire purchased an estate called "Ferney" near the French-Swiss border where he lived until just before of his death. He was an outspoken critic of religious intolerance and persecution. Voltaire returned to a hero's welcome in Paris at age 83. The excitement of the trip was too much for him and he died in Paris. He was finally buried at an abbey in Champagne. Among his best-known works is the satirical short story Candide (1759).
As an essayist Voltaire defended freedom of thoughts and religious tolerance. His Dictionnaire philosophique (1764) was condemned in Paris, Geneva and Amsterdam, and for safety reasons Voltaire denied his authorship. The book was burned. Later Voltaire introduced his Dictionary as a dialogical book. In Essay on the Manner and Spirit of Nations.
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Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
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