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LECTURE NOTES

ADAM GOPNIK • Know the “three ” that Gopnik identifies • Know kind of fruit that King Frederick II of Prussia invoked when discussing Voltaire, whose real name was François-Marie Arouet (and one of whose nicknames was Zozo) • Know how Voltaire became rich in his mid-30s (a fortune he added to through his literary endeavors) • Nancy Mitford’s 1954 book Voltaire in Love highlights his relationship with Émilie, Marquise du Châtelet, who died in 1749, aged 42, during childbirth • An advocate of female education, she was an important natural philosopher (i.e. scientist) and mathematician, who translated— and added a commentary to—Isaac Newton’s Principia (short title of Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which concerns basic laws of physics • Of her own works, the most influential remains Foundations of Physics • One critical area of her inquiries was the conservation principles that apply to the energy of bodies in motion • Many of her theories were included in the Encyclopédie, compiled by Diderot and D’Alembert • After Voltaire’s two-and-a-half years of self-exile in England (to avoid imprisonment in the Bastille), he lived with the married Émilie du Châtelet for some time at her country estate, Cirey, in northwest France, where the two collaborated (“science and sex”) • After her death, Voltaire moved to Prussia, where Frederick the Great supported him, but he argued with the president of the Berlin Academy of Science • For himself and a lover, Madame Denis (his sister’s daughter), Voltaire later maintained a “small estate”—Les Délices (“the delights”)—in Calvinist city-state of Geneva • His principal home became Neo-Classical mansion at Ferney, on French side of Franco-Swiss border, near Geneva • and Dictionnaire philosophique among works he composed there • Understand why Gopnik compares Voltaire to Martha Stewart, as well as to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream • Know controversial, cruel punishment visited publicly upon domestic servant Damiens in 1757 for penknife-assassination attempt against King Louis XV (who succeeded the Sun King) • Know meaning of Voltaire’s most famous phrase, “Écrassez l’infâme” • Know event of our time to which Gopnik compares 1775 Lisbon earthquake • Know how Burton Raffel translates final words of Candide (“Il faut cultiver notre jardin”) • Know author

1 of Rasselas (1759) and a point of similarity and one of difference between that novel and Candide • Understand word “meliorism” • Voltaire involved himself in religious-rights controversies, not least the successful effort to have King Louis XV exonerate Huguenot (Protestant) merchant Jean Calas, who was tortured and then, on breaking wheel, executed on charge of murdering his Catholic-convert son, Marc- Antoine Calas (a probable suicide) • Voltaire’s Treatise on Tolerance highlights the Calas tragedy • Young Huguenot nobleman (chevalier) la Barre also tortured and executed, the charge against him being blasphemy (disrespect towards God and/or scared practices and symbols) • Know book burned alongside La Barre HOWARD NORMAN • Know number of miles in Basho’s Narrow Road journey • Know name of Kyoto- based poet from whom Basho received instruction • Know significance of banana tree in Basho’s biography •••

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