Customer Reviews:
 Generally good, but not perfect. February 14, 2007
58 out of 59 found this review helpful
Pearson has brought great, fresh detail to the list of venerable Voltaire biographies, but then goes too far--he flatly states that Voltaire is gay or at least bi on the basis of his long-lasting friendship with schoolfriend Thierot. Perhaps this is wishful thinking, or just an author trying to give his book a sales edge, but there's no evidence for it. In fact, Voltaire found Frederick the Great's gay court tiresome, he spent all his time bedding actresses in his youth, was in a longlasting and deeply sensual affair with mathematician Emilie du Chatelet and then for an encore, wrote pornographic letters to his niece, whom he bedded and housed into old age.
 Philosopher, Playwright or Libertine? September 14, 2006
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Voltaire was all three - or was he? As with any biography on someone long dead, it is, and can only ever be, a subjective view. How many would exile themselves, not just to escape the Bastille, but to champion the cause of freedom of speech, a commodity in very short supply in his times - I would suggest very few indeed. The author is well versed in his subject and his translations, I find, are faithful to the original. The structure, with its dramatus personae, Beginnings, Middles and Endings, would, I feel have appealed to the playwright in Zozo, as well as making this an eminently readable biography. Roger Pearson has produced a book which is more than worthy of taking its place amongst the better works on Voltaire.
Good Style, not so sure about the content January 19, 2006
12 out of 16 found this review helpful
Intriguing is the way that Pearson lays out his work, with the 'Dramatis Personae' from the 'action' of Voltaire's life, the structuring of the book like a play in acts; 'Beginnings,' 'Middles,' 'Late Middles,' and 'Endings,' and the chapter sub lines in the style of Candide; 'What become of young Arouet among the Jesuits' Even the introduction is not called an introduction, but the 'Curtain Rise.' Pearson's familial, but informed, style of writing is a joy to peruse, and in many ways is better that the literary prowess of his hero. There can be no doubt that Pearson takes a rather positive view of one of the most hated, and loved, of the enlightenment figures. He does his best to untangle this enigmatic figure from the web of interpretation, misunderstanding, and intrigue that surrounds him, but often you will find Pearson principally concerned, or principally concentrating on, biographical information, but in truth this is a biography. Mr. Pearson¡¦s linguistic expertise makes him a suitable person to use his own translation, and certainly his Oxford World¡¦s Classics edition of Candide and Other Stories is one of the best you can purchase. The conclusions he draws are favourable, but I fail to see how some of them could be true.See also:
¡¥Voltaire,¡¦ A. J. Ayer
¡¥Voltaire in Exile,¡¦ Ian Davidson
¡¥Voltaire¡¦s Politics,¡¦ Peter Gay
¡¥Voltaire,¡¦ Haydn Mason
The Best of All Possible Biographies December 9, 2005
21 out of 25 found this review helpful
If indeed we are basking in a 'Golden Age' of literary biography, when the likes of Blake, Defoe, and Coleridge are sharing unequalled popularity, it has been striking to note the curious absence of perhaps the greatest literary figure (certainly ‘character’) of 18th Century Europe.
Coincidently, much the same can be said for Voltaire's work and oeuvre - now only occasionally represented by updated dust jackets for re-issues of Everyman's 'Candide'. For some it may come as a surprise that Voltaire was little known for his prose (or as many erroneously believe – philosophy) but was in fact the most celebrated French playwright since Racine - sharing this distinction with the daily activities of social crusader, historian, court romantic, amateur architect, scientist, and watchmaker – all neatly and neurotically wrapped into the frame of a skeletal, fiery (and seemingly eternal) octogenarian.
This is the second major biography on Voltaire released in the UK this year (the first - Ian Davidson's succinct but magisterial, 'Voltaire in Exile'), and easily the most scholarly and in-depth analysis of the great ‘Zozo’ and his tireless battle against ignorance, idleness and his self-coined enemy catch-phrase – “le infame”.In an admirable Panglossian approach to biography, Roger Pearson grabs a hold of Voltaire's famous house coat, and whisks us through a literary life truly unequalled by any significant French (or arguably European) figure of the early Enlightenment. The key vision that is presented throughout the book is authenticity. With a pursuit of freedom far surpassing the capabilities (or desires) of most literary lives of the past 200 years, Voltaire was fiendishly, indeed ravenously unique - a subject who guides the author and reader alike through a dizzying menu of theatre, romance, exploration, razor-sharp wit - and ultimately, triumph. Perhaps it is oddly fitting Voltaire has had to wait to join the tide of modern biography – as the genre continues to imbue renewed acclaim to his many rivals. But in Pearson’s skilful ‘last laugh’ I doubt he would have had it any other way…
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