Voltaire’s Europe

Abstract

Few writers have so dominated their period as Voltaire (1694–1778); even fewer have accomplished this beyond the borders of their country. While he was often skeptical about the possibility of sustained, peaceful cooperation among European states, Voltaire, the multilingual philosophe who corresponded with widespread segments of the European elites, occupied a central position in the literary and political crosscurrents of his day. Much of his work thus reflects or participates in the already active debates on the issues of European identity and integration. Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) man in Europe during his life, Voltaire announces, in positive or negative terms, the variations the European topos will undergo: a utopian community of nations that would establish perpetual peace; an imperialist continent colonizing the rest of the world; a racist Europe periodically ridding itself of undesirable minorities; a rough balance of power among a group of interconnected nation-states; and an expanding union based on social and cultural commonalities.

The Enlightenment is Europe’s most prestigious achievement, and it could not have come about without the presence of a European domain, at once unified and diverse.

Tzvetan Todorov, L’Esprit des Lumières