Although events in La Harpe's life led him to become a friend of the Catholic revival during which Chateaubriand, to name only one, was pleased to have his support, he is rightly best remembered as a disciple of Voltaire who rose to eminence as a critic through his wholehearted acceptance of the latter's ideas. Everything in the man and in his work is deeply marked by the influence of the patriarch. He sought fame, not only as a critic, but as a playwright, poet, orator, translator and pamphleteer.
This book, originally published in 1972 and later given the ISBN 978-0-900547-23-2, was made Open Access in 2024 as part of the MHRA Revivals programme.
Although events in La Harpe's life led him to become a friend of the Catholic revival during which Chateaubriand, to name only one, was pleased to have his support, he is rightly best remembered as a disciple of Voltaire who rose to eminence as a critic through his wholehearted acceptance of the latter's ideas. As we shall see, everything in the man and in his work is deeply marked by the influence of the patriarch. While he considered Voltaire to be the supreme example of man's failure to find a truly universal genius in the arts, he too attempted to follow the latter's example of diversity: 'La littérature, telle que je l'ai conçue, comprend tout ce que les Anciens attribuaient au grammairien, au rhéteur, au philosophe, et n'exclut que les sciences physiques, les sciences exactes et les arts et métiers'. He sought fame, not only as a critic, but as a playwright, poet, orator, translator and pamphleteer.
Chapter I. The Formative Years - Chapter II. Literary Debut - Chapter III. Adulthood - Chapter IV. Maturity - Chapter V. The Revolution - Chapter VI. The Christian Fight - Chapter VII. The Last Years
Chapter VIII. The Literary Theorist and Critic - Chapter IX. Theatre (Tragedy; Drame; Comedy; Opera; Conclusion) - Chapter X. Poetry - Chapter XI. Translation - Chapter XII. Religious, Political and Social Ideas - Chapter XIII. Oratory - Chapter XIV. Philosophical Dialogues, Pamphlets and Apologias
La Harpe was made for the polemics that surrounded the last twenty years of Voltaire's life. His belief in himself then gave him strength to act as the upholder of Voltairian purity after the latter's death. All in all, the faults and qualities of all his writings, his lack of originality as an artist as well as his prejudices as a critic, tell us far more about the period than would the highly personal productions or the calm impartial observations of a man who had not been in the thick of the fray.
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