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Memoirs of the life of Voltaire. Written by himself. Translated from the French

1785 Paratext Forms: Preface Paratext Functions: Text-activating URL

Related resources

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Memoirs of the life of Voltaire. Written by himself. Translated from the French translation has paratext has other edition

Summary (extracted citations)

On page ii of the preface: "But accusations are fruitless. The Memoirs are really written by Voltaire, and must, soon or late, become public. This Voltaire is a sort of malignant spirit, who came upon earth only to embitter the cup of life, and afterwards laugh at our wry faces".

Notes

There is a preface which appears in the guise of an "Extract from a Letter from Paris, dated May 2, 1784". It stresses that the rumours that Voltaire is not the real author of these memoirs are misguided and the memoirs are totally authentic.

It is hard to tell whether this letter should be taken as the publisher's or the translator's preface. Still, it seems to be new to this translation since it does not appear in the 1785 French edition published in Amsterdam which, moreover, features Avertissement de l'éditeur also omitted in the present English translation. Here is the link for the French Amsterdam edition: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k86468s/f2.item.texteImage.