SOURCE: Pearson, Roger. “Statistics and Symposia: L'Homme aux quarante écus” and “Fallen Fables.” In Fables of Reason: A Study of Voltaire's ‘contes philosophiques’, pp. 20-38. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

In these essays, Pearson focuses on the conte L'Homme aux quarante écus as a useful introduction to the contes in general, suggesting that in it, Voltaire outlines the basic themes of the Enlightenment. Pearson argues that the conte form offers Voltaire a great measure of philosophical and rhetorical freedom, and demonstrates Voltaire's writing to be a forerunner of modernity.

Statistics and Symposia: L'homme Aux Quarante écus

Messieurs, allez souper chez M. André.

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Written in 1767, L'Homme aux quarante écus was published anonymously in Geneva by the Cramers in February 1768. It went through at least ten editions within the first year and on 24 September was condemned and ordered to be burned by the Paris Parlement, who also sentenced two booksellers to three...