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Read Me What to read 1601-1700

< 1401-1600 | 1701-1750 >

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17th Century It is often said that modern times began in 1600. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 105

Sir Thomas BROWNE (1605-1682) Etext: The Online Books Page
Religio Medici (1643)
Christian Morals
On Dreams
Urn-Burial full title: Hydriotaphia, or Urne-Buriall
The Garden of Cyrus

Pierre CORNEILLE (1606-1684) ... Corneille was educated at a Jesuit school, and the Latin-based training shaped the young dramatist in many ways, from the discipline of verse composition at an early age, to concepts of order, and plots from Roman history and legend. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 296 Criticism: Ward Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: The Cid (Le Cid (1636-37) The famous riposte 'Je ne dois qu'a moi seul toute ma renommee' was ill-judged and untrue, for he had indeed taken the course, normal then and earlier, of deriving the structure of a play from a predecessor, in this case Guillen de Castro's 'Las Mocedades del Cid' (1618). --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 296
One star: Polyeucte ... a tragedy of Christian martrydom ... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 296
One star: Nicomede (1651)
One star: Horace ... the triumph of patriotism ... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 296
One star: Cinna ... a play in praise of generosity. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 296
One star: Rodogune (1645)

John MILTON (1608-1674) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Creamer | Muir Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Fadiman | Van Doren | Ward
To the Lord Generall Cromwell (May 1632)
One star: L'Allegro
One star: Il'Penseroso
Three stars: Areopagitica (1644) subtitle: A Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, in the Parliament of England
Four stars: Paradise Lost (1667) On the basis of a few passages in Biblical and Apocryphal literature and of scattered images from popular lore and legend, Milton has given us an unexpected portrayal of the Devil and his cohorts. Few people are likely to forget Milton's Satan, that magnificent epitome of pride, perversity, and defiance. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 158 Thinking it over, I reflected that the schizophrenic character of Paradise Lost, its fundamental unease, is due to Milton's surprise at finding throughout his epic Satan kept coming up more interesting than God. --Rebecca West, A Grave and Remarkable Book, review of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Harper's, February 1966, in The Essential Rebecca West, p. 453 [I]t is because he understood that people live each day within a variety of value systems that he could write a great poem about how two people could allow appetite, seemingly rational argument and love to lead them to disobey a divine command. --The Economist, June 16th 2001 p. 84
Two stars: Lycidas
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
One star: Sonnets
One star: Samson Agonistes (1671)
Paradise Regained
Comus
Apology for Smectymnus
Arcades
At a Solemn Musick
Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
Of Education
On Shakespeare
On Time
The Ready and Easy Way
The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
When I consider how my life is spent

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl CLARENDON (1609-1674)
History of the Rebellion in England (c. 1670's)

EVLIYA Celebi (Dervis Muhammed, c. 1611-1684) Criticism: Ward
Seyahatname [Book of Travels] (1896-1936)

Samuel BUTLER (1612-1680) Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: Hudibras (1663-78)

Richard CRASHAW (1613-1649)
Poems

Jeremy TAYLOR (1613-1667) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Wohlers
The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living (1650)
One star: The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (1651)

Francois, Duc de LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1613-1680) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Dalrymple | Ward
Memoirs (1662)
One star: Maxims (1665) ...shocking to persons who live in a state of illusion about themselves. --Edmund Gosse, in Three French Moralists

KHUSHHAL, Khan Khatak (1613-1689) Criticism: Ward
Divan

Lucy HUTCHINSON
Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson (1806)

Richard BAXTER (1615-1691) Etext: The Online Books Page
Richard Baxter's Narrative (1696)

One star: The Golden Lotus or The Plum in the Golden Vase [Chin P'ing Mei] (1618) Criticism: Fadiman | Ward The first Chinese novel to depict urban domestic life in naturalistic terms ... --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 230

Richard LOVELACE (1618-1658) Etext: The Online Books Page
Poems

October 23, 1619 John Donne visits Johannes Kepler in Linz, Austria --Jeremy Bernstein, 'Heaven's Net: The Meeting of John Donne and Johannes Kepler,' The American Scholar, Spring 1997, pp. 175-195

John EVELYN (1620-1706) Criticism: Thomas
Evelyn's Diary

Andrew MARVELL (1621-1678) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Van Doren
One star: Poems

Jean de LA FONTAINE (1621-1695) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Van Doren
One star: Fables (Fable choisies mises en vers 1668-1694) Human failings and foibles are criticized gently, and the Epicurean wit of La Fontaine is at odds with the solemn morality of his time. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 22 In his hands, the flat, moralizing narrative becomes a drama, economically staged, with sharp dialogue and neat reversals. --David Coward, London Review of Books, 7 February 2002, p. 32

MOLIERE (Jean Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Weblog | Fadiman | Van Doren | Ward
One star: The Affected Ladies (Ridiculous Precieuses 1659)
One star: The School for Husbands (L'Ecole des Maris 1661)
Two stars: The School for Wives (L'Ecole des Femmes 1662)
Three stars: Tartuffe (Le Tartuffe 1664)
One star: Love Doctor (L'Amour Medecin 1664)
One star: Don Juan (Dom Juan 1665)
Three stars: The Misanthrope (Le Misanthrope 1666)
Two stars: The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Le Medecin malgre lui 1666)
One star: The Sicilian (Le Sicilien 1667)
One star: The Miser (L'Avare 1668)
Two stars: The Would-Be Gentleman (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme 1670) Redescription can be intriguing and useful, and succeeding generations must, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, rename their beasts. Moliere revealed the comic possibilities of this when M. Jourdain discovered that all his life he had been speaking prose. --Saul Bellow, The New York Times Book Review, July 10, 1966 the favourite with modern audiences, for it shows a social climber in all his absurdity but does not suggest that he is evil or at all reprehensible, merely a lasting figure of fun, or perhaps even to be pitied... --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 29
One star: Scapin's Schemings (Les Fourberies de Scapin 1671)
One star: The Learned Ladies (Les Femmes Savantes 1672)
One star: The Imaginary Invalid (Le Malade Imaginaire 1673)

Thomas VAUGHAN (1622-1695)
Poetry

Blaise PASCAL (1623-1662) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: MacTutor History of Mathematics Criticism: Weblog | Fadiman | Van Doren | Ward
Account of the Great Experiment Concerning the Equilibrium of Fluids (1648) He rejects any explanation in terms of ultimate ends or purposes, or any notion that nature had desires or aversions. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 147
New Experiments Concerning the Vacuum
Treatise on the Vacuum
Treatise on the Weight of the Mass of Air
Letter to Fermat (July 29, 1654)
Geometrical Demonstrations
One star: Letters to a Provincial (1656-57)
Three stars: Thoughts (Pensees 1670) Pascal's 'Pensees' belong to that class of religious writings called 'apologetics'. Indeed, the 'Pensees' comprise notes for a work which Pascal intended to call an 'Apology for the Christian Religion'. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 177

George FOX (1624-1691) Etext: The Online Books Page
George Fox's Journal (1694)

Johann Jakob Chrisoffel von GRIMMELSHAUSEN (c. 1625-1676) Criticism: Ward
Simplicius Simplicissimus (1669)

John AUBREY (1626-1697) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Wikipedia
Brief Lives

Robert BOYLE (1627-1691) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Downs
The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts and Paradoxes (1661)

Jacques-Benigne BOSSUET (1627-1704)
One star: Funeral Orations (1689)

John BUNYAN (1628-1688) Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth Etext: The Online Books Page
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666) Humor: Jaffe-Notier
Three stars: The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) No refinement could surpass the tinker who, writing in his prison cell, earned the applause of a believing world, in expressing the emotions of the faithful Puritan, thinking only of his own salvation. --Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Ch. IV, sec. A
Life and Death of Mr. Badman

Christiaan HUYGENS (1629-1695) Reference: IMHS | HMA Criticism: Van Doren
One star: Treatise on Light (1690) ...Huygens' wave theory won acceptance over Newton's corpuscular theory during the 19th century. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 193

John DRYDEN (1631-1700) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Reynolds
Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Alexander's Feast
All for Love
Annus Mirabilis
Epigrams on Milton
Essay of Dramatic Poesy
The Hind and the Panther
Preface to the Fables (of Chaucer)
Religio Laici
The Secular Masque
Song for St. Cecilia's Day

John LOCKE (1631-1704) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Björn's Criticism: Stackhouse | West | Mitchell | Fadiman | Van Doren
Two stars: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) ...Locke vigorously opposes exclusive reliance on an 'inner light' as warrant for religious belief. He acknowledges the existence and validity of revelation--direct communication from God to man--but he insists that revelation cannot be contrary to reason. Indeed, reason and revelation are closely bound together. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 202 ...cast doubt upon the possibility of achieving universally valid knowledge... --William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West, p. 686
Two stars: Two Essays Concerning Civil Government (1690) Humor: Modern English | Rap Such power and the government that wields it comes into being, Locke maintains, as the result of a compact made by persons who previously lived in a non-political condition. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 126
One star: A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) Etext: Constitution Society Locke not only says that the use of state power to enforce religious uniformity is morally and religiously wrong. He also says that it is a danger to the security of civil society. --Seymour Cain, Religion and Theology (1961), p. 194
Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) Etext: Nijmegen
Letter to Samuel Bold (May 16, 1699)

Benedict (Baruch) de SPINOZA (1632-1677) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Yesselman Criticism: Weblog | Van Doren | Ward a God-intoxicated man. --Novalis
Letter to William de Blyenbergh (Jan. 5, 1665)
Theologico-Political Treatise (1670)
Letter to Henry Oldenburg (Nov. 1675)
Political Treatise (1675-76) Etext: Gosset translation
Three stars: Ethics (1677) ...recall what Spinoza has proposed as a cure for human ills. This remedy is simply adequate knowledge of the causes of things and particularly of the causes of human emotions. Through such knowledge, a man comes to accept consciously the whole scheme of things and his place in it, unaffected by disturbances from without and free from disturbances from within. --Seymour Cain, Ethics: The Study of Moral Values (1962), p. 176 To understand even vaguely what Spinoza is talking about, we must put ourselves in the position of men who envision the whole of reality and the relation of parts to the whole; who ask and answer the question of the relation of ultimate, infinite, eternal reality to proximate, finite, temporal existence; who point to an experience of at-oneness with the whole of things. --Seymour Cain, Philosophy (1963), p. 174

Anton van LEEUWENHOEK (1632-1723) Criticism: Downs
Letters to the Royal Society of England (1719)

Samuel PEPYS (1633-1703) Etext: The Online Books Page | Gyford Criticism: Park | Hensher | McGrath | Dirda | Ward 'And so to bed,' wrote Samuel Pepys, And under blankets slowly crepys; His wife, poor wretch, stays up and wepys, While wayward Sam snores on and slepys. And that is how a source book kepys Pronouncing Mr. Samuel Pepys. The Pepyses of modern day Insist that this is not the way: 'Us cats prefer to call it Pepp-iss; It's real cool, man, and like the heppes!' The outcome of the book's misstep is A bunch of angry, red hot Pepys. --Gerald Kloss, Pepys-Squeaks (1980)
One star: The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1659-69)

Madame de LA FAYETTE (Marie-Madeline Pioche De La Vergue, 1634-1693) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Princess of Cleves

Sir George ETHEREGE (1635-1691) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Man of Mode

Robert HOOKE (1635-1703) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Downs
Micrographia (1665) full title 'Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon'

Nicolas BOILEAU-DESPREAUX (1636-1711)
The Art of Poetry
Lutrin

Jean-Baptiste RACINE (1639-1699) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Rexroth
One star: Andromache (1668)
One star: Phaedra (1677)
Britannicus
Athaliah

P'U Sung-ling (1640-1715) Criticism: Ward
Liao-chai chih-i (1766)

William WYCHERLEY (1640-1716) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Country Wife Etext: Bibliomania
The Plain Dealer

Ihara SAIKAKU (1642-1693) Criticism: Ward
Koshoku ichidai onna (1686)

Sir Isaac NEWTON (1642-1727) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Chymistry Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Van Doren Nature and Nature's laws lay hid from sight; God said: 'Let Newton be', and all was light. --Alexander Pope
Two stars: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) Universality is the keynote of this book. Newton undertakes to explain all the phenomena of the world, to subordinate all the physical sciences to his definitions and laws, and finally to reduce everything to 'the universal law of gravitation.' --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), pp. 161-162
One star: Optics (1704) Newton's method in this book is strictly experimental. --Peter Wolff, Foundations of Science and Mathematics (1960), p. 180

BASHO (Matsuo Munefusa, 1644-1694) ...the master of the haiku, and one of the greatest of all Japanese poets. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 304 ...a *haiku* by Matuso Basho is worth all of the long didactic poems from the European baroque. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) Introduction Etext: Haiku Poets Hut Criticism: Weblog | Fadiman | Ward
One star: Oku no Hosomichi [The Narrow Road to the Deep North]
Haiku An admirer of such works as Wordsworth's The Prelude (there are no such poems in Japanese) might see the seventeen syllables of the haiku as too short a verbal span to convey, adequately, an emotion. But the devices for getting around this limitation are many and frequently clever. --G. L. Anderson, Masterpieces of the Orient (1961) p. 371

William PENN (1644-1718) Etext: The Online Books Page
Some Fruits of Solitude (1693)

Jean de LA BRUYERE (1645-1696)
Characters (1688)

HUNG Sheng (1646-1704) Criticism: Ward
The Palace of Eternal Youth (c. 1688)

Gottfried Wilhelm von LEIBNIZ (1646-1716) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Leibniz Society newsletter | Cover | Roinila | Rutherford Criticism: Grosholz
Discourse on Metaphysics (1686)
New Essays Concerning Human Understanding (1704)
Theodicy (1710) It appears that the combination of infinite plenitude and intelligible laws lies at the heart of Leibniz's system, for it was part of the justification of his famous claim that the actual world is the best possible world. --Laurence Carlin, 'Leibniz, Berkeley, and the Science of Happiness', Journal of the History of Ideas, January 2007, p. 71
Monadology (1714)
Animadversions on Descartes' Principles of Philosophy
Letters to Samuel Clarke
On the Ultimate Origination of Things
On the Universal Science
Principles of Nature and Grace
Thoughts on Knowledge, Truth and Ideas

John WILMOT, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680)
Poems Etext: Ynys-Mon

Pierre BAYLE (1647-1706) Criticism: Downs
Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697)

Willaim DAMPIER (1651-1715) Etext: The Online Books Page
A New Voyage Round the World (1697)

Francois de FENELON (1651-1715) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Weblog
The Existence of God (1686)

John GAY (1685-1732) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Beggar's Opera

Thomas OTWAY (1652-1685) Etext: The Online Books Page
Venice Preserv'd

CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon (1653-1725) Criticism: Ward Etext: Japanese Text Initiative
One star: Plays ...written by Japan's leading dramatist for the popular puppet theater, performed as well in the Kubuki theater, which are mainly concerned with conflict between love and duty in the lives of city-dwelling commoners and low-ranking samurai. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (3rd Ed. 1989) p. 307

Daniel DEFOE (1661-1731) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: LitWeb Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Fadiman | Van Doren | Ward
Four stars: Robinson Crusoe (1719) full title: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner Such a book as 'Robinson Crusoe' never was written, and never will be written again. I have tried that book for years--generally in combination with a pipe of tobacco--and I have found it my friend in need in all the necessities of this mortal life. --Gabriel Betteredge in 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins
One star: Journal of the Plague Year (1722)
One star: Moll Flanders (1722)

Jonathan SWIFT (1667-1745) Etext: The Online Books Page | Great Books and Classics Reference: Muir Criticism: Downs | Fadiman | Rexroth | Van Doren | Ward
Battle of the Books (1704)
One star: A Tale of a Tub (1704)
Letter to Alexander Pope (Sept. 29, 1725)
Four stars: Gulliver's Travels (1726) full title: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Lemuel Gulliver The prevalent view is strange because there are few books which are more adult in their meaning or more devoid of the qualities of simple entertainment that are usually associated with children's literature. --Peter Wolff, A General Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education (1959), p. 139
One star: A Modest Proposal (1729) Swift's starting point is that common humanity is lost, and he makes it follow logically from this that it would be a good idea for the poor to sell, and the rich to buy, their children for food... . --Andre Gushurst-Moore, The Salisbury Review, Autumn 2001, p. 22
Meditations Upon a Broomstick
Resolutions When I Come to Be Old
One star: Journal to Stella (1766, 1768)
Argument against Abolishing Christianity
Essay on Modern Education
On Poetry: A Rhapsody
On the Death of Dr. Swift
On Time
Thoughts on Religion
Thoughts on Various Subjects
Critical Essay upon the Faculties of Mind

Giambattista (Giovanni Battista) VICO (1668-1744) Criticism: Miner | Auxier | Downs | Ward
Two stars: The New Science (1725) His revolutionary move is to have denied the doctrine of a timeless natural law the truths of which could have been known in principle to any man, at any time, anywhere. --Isaiah Berlin, The Counter-Enlightenment, Part II

William CONGREVE (1670-1729) Criticism: Van Doren Etext: The Online Books Page
One star: The Way of the World (1700)
Love for Love
The Mourning Bride
The Old Bachelor

Joseph ADDISON and Richard STEELE (1672–1729) Etext: Addison at The Online Books Page | Steele at The Online Books Page Reference: Bailey on Addison | Bailey on Steele
The Spectator Etext: The Spectator Project Criticism: Pratt
Joseph ADDISON (1672–1719)
The Vision of Mirza

Thomas TRAHERNE (b. 1674?) Etext: The Online Books Page
Centuries
Poems
Thanksgivings

George FARQUHAR (1677-1707) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Beaux' Strategem
The Recruiting Officer

George BERKELEY (1685-1753) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Wilkins Criticism: Van Doren
A New Theory of Vision (1709)
Two stars: The Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) The one of Ireland who attacks the reality of bodies does not seem to bring forward suitable reasons, nor does he explain himself sufficiently. --Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz Berkeley's effort, in the 'Principles'--as well as in his other writings--is directed to recasting the picture of the world and the account of knowledge in such a fashion that knowledge will assuredly be real. --Seymour Cain, Philosophy (1963), p. 219

HAKUIN Ekaku (1686-1769) Etext: Zen Reunion ...greatest of the Tokugawa perion Zen Masters, restored Rinzai Zen to the purity of its T'ang and Sung traditions. --A Guide to Oriental Classics (2nd Ed. 1975), p. 285
Orategama
Wild Ivy [Itsumadegusa]

Alexander POPE (1688-1744) Etext: The Online Books Page Reference: Johnson
Letter to William Wycherley (June 23, 1705)
Letter to John Gay Oct. 16, 1727)
An Essay on Man (1733-34)
Epistle to Augustus
Essay on Criticism
Intended for Sir Isaac Newton
Moral Essays
Ode on Solitude
The Rape of the Lock
Thoughts on Various Subjects

Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de MARIVAUX (1688-1763) Criticism: Ward
One star: Up from the Country (1735-36)

Emanuel SWEDENBORG (1688-1772) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Emerson
Heaven and Hell (1758) The most imaginative of men, yet writing with the precision of a mathematician, he endeavored to engraft a purely philosophical Ethics on the popular Christianity of his time. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de MONTESQUIEU (1689-1755) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Downs | Van Doren | Ward
Persian Letters (1722)
Two stars: The Spirit of Laws (1748) Montesquieu's work, therefore, is not a treatise on law as such (as, for instance, Aquinas' 'Treatise on Law' is). Instead, we might call it a treatise on how laws ought to be adapted to particular circumstances and situations. --Peter Wolff, The Development of Political Theory and Government (1959), p. 137 ...it is true that 'The Spirit of Laws' was not well received by the rationalists dominating the eighteeth-century French intellectual scene. ... 'The Spirit of Laws' was more congenial to British and American thought. ----Peter Wolff, Philosophy of Law and Jurisprudence (1961), p. 142

Samuel RICHARDSON (1689-1767) Etext: The Online Books Page Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment. --Samuel Johnson
Clarissa
Pamela Criticism: Mullan
Sir Charles Grandison

Joseph BUTLER (1692-1752) Etext: The Online Books Page
The Analogy of Religion (1736)

VOLTAIRE (Francois Marie Arouet, 1694-1778) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Weblog | Downs | Fadiman | Van Doren | Ward
Two stars: Philosophic Letters on the English (1734) Voltaire was the first publicly passionate Anglophile; unlike the snobbish variety, he did not admire English manners so much as English political moderation. --Brooke Allen,The New Criterion. September 1999 p. 66
One star: Zadig (Memnon 1747) deals with a youth who practices all the virtues but still meets with misfortune. An angel finally explains that some good comes out of all evil, and that everything is predestined. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 30
One star: The Age of Louis XIV (1751)
One star: Micromegas (1752)
The Lisbon Earthquake (Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne 1756)
Four stars: Candide (1759) Humor: Pangloss Wisdom satirizes what Voltaire condidered to be the irrational optimism of Leibnitz in the person of Dr. Pangloss, whose perennial view is that 'everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds'. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) p. 30 ...beneath the surface of 'Candide' is an attempt to refuse an optimistic philosophical system by juxtaposing it in fiction against the human condition. And the choice is metaphysics or humanity. --Alan Charles Kors, The Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries; Lecture 20: The Assault Upon Philosophical Optimism--Voltaire. The Teaching Company
Letter to Cardinal de Bernis (April 23, 1761)
Letter to Countess de Barcewitz (Dec. 24, 1761)
Toleration (1763)
One star: Philosophical Dictionary (1764)
L'Ingenu (1767) about a youth, born in Canada of French parents, who spends twenty years among the Huron indians and, arriving in France, finds much to wonder at in Roman Catholic tenets and much to attach in the bureaucracy of Louis XV. --Philip Ward, A Lifetime's Reading (1982) pp. 30-31
Letter to James Marriott (Feb. 26, 1767)
Letter to Frederick the Great (April 6, 1767)
The Age of Louis XV (1768)
Letter to M. Le Riche (Feb. 6, 1770)
Epitre a l'Auteur du Livres des Trois Imposteurs (Nov. 10, 1770)
Select Letters (anthology 1963)

Antoine-francois, l'Abbe PREVOST (1697-1763) Etext: The Online Books Page Criticism: Ward
One star: Manon Lescaut (1731)

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Revised April 20, 2008.

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