Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet, who called himself Voltaire, was a French writer, philosopher, satirist, and historian active during the Enlightenment. He was known for his sharp wit and his attacks on Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, as well as on slavery. He argued strongly for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state. His most famous work is the novella *Candide*, which mocks various people and ideas of his era, particularly Gottfried Leibniz’s claim that this world is necessarily the "best of all possible worlds."

Voltaire wrote a huge amount across many forms: plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific works. He produced over 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was one of the first writers to become famous and financially successful on an international scale. Because he openly championed civil liberties, he constantly faced the strict censorship of the Catholic French monarchy. His writings savagely mocked intolerance, religious dogma, and the institutions of his day.

He was born in Paris, the youngest of five children. His father was a lawyer and minor treasury official; his mother came from the lowest level of the French nobility. Voltaire later claimed he was actually born on 20 February 1694 as the illegitimate son of a nobleman, so his real birth date is debated. Two of his older brothers died as infants. His surviving brother, Armand, was nine years older, and his sister, Marguerite-Catherine, was seven years older. His family called him "Zozo." He was baptized on 22 November 1694. The Jesuits educated him at the Collège Louis-le-Grand from 1704 to 1711, teaching him Latin, theology, and rhetoric. He later learned Italian, Spanish, and English.

When he finished school, Voltaire decided to become a writer, but his father wanted him to be a lawyer. Pretending to work as a notary’s assistant in Paris, Voltaire actually spent his time writing poetry. When his father found out, he sent him to study law in Caen, Normandy. Voltaire kept writing essays and historical studies anyway. His wit made him popular with some aristocratic families. In 1713, his father got him a job as secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf. In The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer, nicknamed "Pimpette." The affair was considered scandalous, and when it was discovered, Voltaire was sent back to France by the end of the year.

Most of his early life was centered on Paris. He got into trouble with the authorities early on for criticizing the government. This led to two prison sentences and one temporary exile to England. A satirical poem accusing the Regent of incest with his daughter got him locked up in the Bastille for eleven months. His first play, *Œdipe*, was accepted by the Comédie-Française in January 1717 and opened in mid-November 1718, seven months after his release. It was an immediate critical and financial success and made his reputation. Both the Regent and King George I of Great Britain gave him medals.

Voltaire’s main cause was religious tolerance and freedom of thought. He worked to undermine the authority of priests, aristocrats, and the monarchy, and supported a constitutional monarchy that would protect people’s rights.

He adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, after his time in the Bastille. Where the name came from is unclear. It is an anagram of AROVET LI, the Latinized spelling of his surname Arouet, plus the initials for "the young." A family story says he was called "determined little thing" as a child and later used a version of that name. The name also reverses the syllables of Airvault, his family’s hometown in Poitou. One biographer argues the name was meant to suggest speed and daring, linking to words for acrobatics, turning to face enemies, and winged creatures. "Arouet" was not a noble enough name for his growing reputation, especially since it sounded like words meaning "to be beaten up" and "a profligate person." In a 1719 letter, Voltaire explained he was so unhappy with the name Arouet that he took another, mainly to avoid being confused with the poet Roi. He used at least 178 different pen names in his lifetime.

His next play, *Artémire*, set in ancient Macedonia, opened on 15 February 1720. It was a failure.