Voltaire

Picture of Voltaire

I'm going to talk about a writer I like very much. His name is Francis Marie Arouet, but he was called Voltaire. Voltaire was born the 21st November 1694, and he died the 30th May 1778, just before the French Revolution.

He is often considered to be the greatest French writer. Actually he wrote more than 56 plays, historical books, essays, pamphlets, and about 20,000 letters. He was a committed writer, and he was famous for his philosophy and his irony. All during his life, he tried to fight inequality, injustice, war and religion. It explains why he had to hide from the anger of kings and the Church.

He left Paris early, and lived in Germany for a long time, near King Frederic II. He lived in England too, where he enjoyed the gain of liberty. He had been impressed there by people like Newton and Locke. Back in France, when he wrote his books, they were very often censured. So he decided to live near Switzerland in Ferney (Ferney-Voltaire nowadays).

I really enjoy this writer because he writes in an easy French. Everybody is able to read his books, and they speak about subjects debated nowadays. I've read and studied lots of books from him, such as Candide, Zadig and Dictionnaire Philosophique. I think Voltaire should be read at least once by all people of the world, so that they understand what liberty means. I admire his bravery to stand against the punishment by which he was threatened. To my mind he is a hero of this world because he had no fear to express what he thought.