Voltaire, Le Siècle de Louis XIV [The Century of Louis XIV]

Síofra Pierse (University College Dublin)

Ed. by Síofra Pierse, University College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.04: French Writing and Culture: Eighteenth-Century and the Enlightenment, 1700-1800.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Jenny Mander (University of Cambridge), Síofra Pierse (University College Dublin), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1751

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Historical representation

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*The article also includes a discussion of Voltaire’s Supplément au Siècle de Louis XIV (Supplement to the Century of Louis XIV)

Siècle de Louis XIV [Century of Louis XIV] (1751) was one of Voltaire’s most significant works of history. This one-volume work of social history was written after his novelistic Histoire de Charles XII [History of Charles XII] (1730), and before his magisterial universal history Essai sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations [Essay on Morals and the Spirit of Nations] (1756). The Siècle aspires to switch core focus away from the battles waged by its titular monarch and instead to spotlight the progress achieved across a century that bears Louis XIV’s name. In his overview of Voltaire’s historical writing, Brumfitt suggests that the Siècle de Louis

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4044 words

Citation: Pierse, Síofra. "Le Siècle de Louis XIV". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 May 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4057, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Voltaire, Le Siècle de Louis XIV [The Century of Louis XIV]

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