Zadig by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

By Voltaire

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Zadig by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Collected Works of Voltaire’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Voltaire includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

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* The complete unabridged text of ‘Zadig by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781788777438

Voltaire

Voltaire was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778)a French philosopher and an author who was as prolific as he was influential. In books, pamphlets and plays, he startled, scandalized and inspired his age with savagely sharp satire that unsparingly attacked the most prominent institutions of his day, including royalty and the Roman Catholic Church. His fiery support of freedom of speech and religion, of the separation of church and state, and his intolerance for abuse of power can be seen as ahead of his time, but earned him repeated imprisonments and exile before they won him fame and adulation.

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The Collected Works of

VOLTAIRE

VOLUME 1 OF 43

Zadig

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2015

Version 1

COPYRIGHT

‘Zadig’

Voltaire: Parts Edition (in 43 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 743 8

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

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Voltaire: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 1 of the Delphi Classics edition of Voltaire in 43 Parts. It features the unabridged text of Zadig from the bestselling edition of the author’s Collected Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Voltaire, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Voltaire or the Collected Works of Voltaire in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

VOLTAIRE

IN 43 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

The Philosophical Fiction

1, Zadig

2, Micromegas

3, Candide; Or, the Optimist

4, L’ingénu

5, The Man of Forty Crowns

6, Other Philosophical Tales

The Plays

7, Oedipus

8, Mariamne

9, Zaire

10, Caesar

11, The Prodigial

12, Merope

13, Olympia

14, The Orphan of China

15, Brutus

16, Mahomet

17, Amelia

18, Socrates

19, Alzire

20, Orestes

21, Sémiramis

22, Catiline

23, Pandora

24, The Scotch Woman

25, Nanine

26, The Prude

27, The Tatler

28, Prefaces to Plays

The Poetry

29, The Henriade

30, The Maid of Orleans

31, The Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems

The Philosophical Works

32, Letters on England

33, Philosophical Letters

34, A Philosophical Dictionary

35, Toleration and Other Essays

36, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments

The Historical Works

37, Age of Louis Xiv

38, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

39, History of Charles Xii

The Criticism

40, The Criticism

The Biographies

41, Voltaire by John Morley

42, Voltaire: A Sketch of His Life and Works by G. W. Foote and J. M. Wheeler

43, Voltaire: Brief Biography by George Saintsbury

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Zadig

Translated by Tobias George Smollett and Thomas Francklin

Zadig was first published in 1747 and is regarded as one of Voltaire’s most famous and well-considered pieces of fiction. A philosophical tale about a Babylonian man, who is subjected to the often cruel whims of fate, the novel was partly influenced by the Persian tale The Three Princes of Serendip. This older story concerns an elderly King, who seeks to educate his three sons to be wise, feigning anger at them in order to banish them with the hope that they can learn about the world. The three princes soon come across clues, which they astutely assess to determine the nature and physical characteristics of a camel.

Voltaire’s novel introduces its eponymous hero as a caring, moral and well-intentioned young man, who falls in love with two women in quick succession and is betrayed by both of them. Zadig manages to impress the King and Queen of Babylonia and is appointed Prime Minister; he instantly proves to be a fair and just ruler. However, he and the Queen fall in love and Zadig is forced to flee the kingdom through fear of the King’s revenge. He travels to Egypt, where he is enslaved, before becoming a wise advisor to his captor. He is freed and then begins his journey back to Babylonia to discover the fate of his beloved Astarte, the Queen of the land. He encounters a series of trials and difficulties returning home, with each episode highlighting his knowledge, understanding, intelligence and wisdom. Voltaire shows his hero constantly experiencing sudden and dramatic changes of fortune, many of which are not related to moral or immoral actions. Characters are rewarded for horrific deeds and it appears as if there is no true order to the world. However, Voltaire’s protagonist is visited by an angel, who offers explanations for the apparently cruel events, and Zadig is rewarded for his wisdom and moral rectitude. It is a surprisingly conservative conclusion to the text from an author renowned for challenging and lambasting the dominant ideas and beliefs of the period.

In Zadig, Voltaire’s protagonist describes a dog and a horse he has never seen very accurately due to his inferences about the tracks left on the ground. The practice of making careful observations with great attention to detail influenced modern detective fiction which would emerge in the early nineteenth century, with Edgar Allan Poe often being cited as an important figure in the creation of the genre.

Title page from the 1747 edition

CONTENTS

EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE SULTANA SERAA.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIII.(1)

XIII.(2)

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

The Sufi musician, poet and scholar Amir Khusrau teaching his disciples—Voltaire’s novel Zadig was largely inspired by Khusrau’s tale ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’.

ZADIG; OR FATE.

AN ORIENTAL HISTORY.

APPROBATION.

I, the underwritten, who have obtained the character of a learned, and even of an ingenious man, have read this manuscript, which, in spite of myself, I have found to be curious, entertaining, moral, philosophical, and capable of affording pleasure even to those who hate romances. I have therefore decried it; and have assured the cadi-lesquier that it is an abominable performance.

EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE SULTANA SERAA.

The 18th of the month Schewal, in the 837th year of the Hegira.

Delight of the eyes, torment of the heart, and light of the mind, I kiss not the dust of thy feet, because thou never walkest; or walkest only on the carpets of Iran, or in paths strewn with roses.

I offer thee the translation of a book, written by an ancient sage, who, having the happiness to have nothing to do, amused himself in composing the History of Zadig; a work which performs more than it promises.

I beseech thee to read and examine it; for, though thou art in the spring of life, and every pleasure courts thee to its embrace; though thou art beautiful, and thy beauty be embellished by thy admirable talents; though thou art praised from morning to evening, and, on all these accounts, hast a right to be devoid of common sense, yet thou hast a sound judgment and a fine taste; and I have heard thee reason with more accuracy than the old dervises, with their long beards and pointed bonnets.

Thou art discreet without being distrustful; gentle without weakness; and beneficent with discernment. Thou lovest thy friends, and makest thyself no enemies. Thy wit never borrows its charms from the shafts of detraction. Thou neither sayest nor doest any ill, notwithstanding that both are so much in thy power.

In a word, thy soul hath always appeared to me to be as pure and unsullied as thy beauty. Besides, thou hast some little knowledge in philosophy, which makes me believe that thou wilt take more pleasure than others of thy sex in perusing the work of this venerable sage.

It was originally written in the ancient Chaldee, a language which neither thou nor I understand. It was afterward translated into the Arabic, to amuse the famous sultan Oulougbeg, much about the time that the Arabians and the Persians began to write the Thousand and One Nights, the Thousand and One Days, etc.

Ouloug was fond of reading Zadig, but the sultanas were fonder of the Thousand and One. How can you prefer, said the wise Ouloug to them, those stories which have neither sense nor meaning? It is for that very reason, replied the sultanas, that we prefer them.

I flatter myself that thou wilt not resemble these, thy predecessors; but that thou wilt be a true Ouloug. I even hope, that when thou art tired with those general conversations, which differ from the Thousand and One in nothing but in being less agreeable, I shall have the honor to entertain thee for a moment with a rational discourse.

Hadst thou been Thalestris in the time of Scander, the son of Philip; hadst thou been the Queen of Sheba in the time of Solomon; these are the very kings that would have paid thee a visit.

I pray the heavenly powers, that thy pleasures may be unmixed, thy