Disagreeing but defending
21 November—Today is the 330th birthday of François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire. We won’t go into why he chose to be known as Voltaire, but he adopted the name after a spell in the Bastille. (Okay, it’s possibly an anagram. Or maybe a contraction of “volontaire.” Don’t worry about it.) Voltaire was a particularly versatile and prolific writer in and of the French Enlightenment, as well as a philosopher, biblical scholar, satirist, and historian. He was known for his wit and reviled by many for his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Roman Catholic Church, in which he had been baptized) and slavery.
Apropos nothing, way back in 1970, I edited a friend’s whimsical treatise titled “Voltaire’s Old Testament Criticism.” Although published as a paperback original by Droz in Geneva, it’s never been considered a best-seller even though Amazon currently ranks it 11,897,580th in books. That’s probably because, first, Droz neglected to publicize it, and, second, because Amazon claims the language of the delightful volume is French. But it’s really English, with only quotations from Voltaire and maybe a few others in French. It can’t have anything to do with my editing. It’s available instantly on Kindle, if you’re interested; or as a real book, if you can wait for delivery after Christmas. My author-inscribed copy is not available for lending, by the way. Or reading.
Back to Voltaire, then, as far as we know, he never actually said “I disagree with what you say but will fight to the death for your right to say it.” Even in French. But he was, in fact, fluent in English, which he had learned during a stay in London. He wrote notebooks in English and even swore English oaths. Presumably, though, “Va te faire foutre” sufficed for his legion of French critics.
Voltaire doubtless spoke English when he met Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in Paris. And he certainly would have fought for a person’s right to say whatever he wanted because he was an advocate of freedom of speech. He also advocated freedom of religion, toleration and equality, and separation of church and state. And he was an opponent of cruel and unusual punishment. You’re right, he did indeed impress America’s Founding Fathers and his influence is evident in the Constitution . . .
