François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plumeM. de Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, called Crébillon fils or Crébillon le Gai to distinguish him from his father, was a French novelist.
Ellen Price was an English novelist better known as Mrs. Henry Wood. She is best remembered for her 1861 novel East Lynne. Many of her books sold well internationally and were widely read in the United States. In her time, she surpassed Charles Dickens in fame in Australia.
Trophime-Gérard, marquis de Lally-Tollendal was a French politician and philanthropist.
Joseph Héliodore Sagesse Vertu Garcin de Tassy was a French orientalist.
Julie or the New Heloise, originally entitled Lettres de Deux Amans, Habitans d'une petite Ville au pied des Alpes, is an epistolary novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, published in 1761 by Marc-Michel Rey in Amsterdam. The novel's subtitle points to the history of Héloïse d'Argenteuil and Peter Abélard, a medieval story of passion and Christian renunciation.
Marie Françoise Sophie Gay was a French author who was born in Paris.
Louis-Élisabeth de la Vergne, comte de Tressan was a French soldier, physician, scientist, medievalist and writer, best known for his adaptations of "romans chevaleresques" of the Middle Ages, which contributed to the rise of the Troubadour style in the French arts.
Oedipus is a tragedy by the French dramatist and philosopher Voltaire that was first performed in 1718. It was his first play and the first literary work for which he used the pen-name Voltaire.
Antoine Jay was a French writer, journalist, historian and politician.
Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape.
Antoine-Jacques Roustan was a Genevan pastor and theologian, who engaged in an extensive correspondence with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Unlike Rousseau, he believed that a Christian republic was practical - that the Christian religion was not incompatible with patriotism or republicanism.
Joseph-François-Édouard de Corsembleu Sieur de Desmahis was an 18th-century French playwright.
Joseph de La Porte, was an 18th-century French priest, literary critic, poet and playwright.
Joseph-Philippe-François Deleuze was an 18th–19th-century French naturalist.
Cosimo Alessandro Collini was an Italian historian and Voltaire's secretary from 1752 to 1756.
Judith Dupont is a French psychoanalyst, translator, and editor.
La Femme qui a Raison, is a verse comedy in three acts written by Voltaire in 1749. The play was first performed in 1749 at a feast in honour of Stanisław Leszczyński in the castle of Lunéville and first published in 1759.
Artémire was Voltaire's second tragedy in five acts. When it failed at its premiere on February 15 1720 at the Comédie-Française, Voltaire withdrew it and cancelled the printing.
Raymond Trousson was a Belgian literary historian, professor emeritus at Free University of Brussels and member of the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium. His interests were focused on the classical authors of the 18th century.
