Seventeen Plays by Voltaire: Seventeen Dramatic Works of the French Enlightenment - Paperback

by Voltaire (Author), William F. Fleming (Translator)

A collected edition of seventeen plays by Voltaire, presenting his work as a dramatist across a range of historical and classical subjects. This volume includes Brutus, Socrates, Alzire, Orestes, Catiline, Sémiramis, Pandora, The Scotch Woman, Nanine, The Prude, Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Mahomet, Amelia, OEdipus, and Mariamne.

The plays proceed through themes of political authority, moral conflict, and individual responsibility, often drawing on classical history and tragedy. Voltaire's dramatic method emphasizes structure, clarity, and rhetorical control, reflecting the traditions of French neoclassical theatre while engaging with the intellectual concerns of his time. Across these works, questions of power, belief, and justice are examined within disciplined dramatic form.

Positioned within eighteenth-century French literature, Voltaire's plays contributed significantly to his contemporary reputation and remain an important part of his literary output. This collection presents them as a unified body of work, allowing for sustained reading across his dramatic writing.