Voltaire's Disciple 
Jean François de La Harpe

Christopher Todd

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CC BY-NC 4.0
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MHRA Texts and Dissertations 7

Modern Humanities Research Association

1 January 1972

ISBN: 978-1-839546-44-0 (Hosted on this website)

Open Access with doi: 10.59860/td.b6b691a

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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.

Contents:

i-xiv, 1-313

Voltaire's Disciple: Jean-François de La Harpe
Christopher Todd
Complete volume as single PDF

The complete text of this book.

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i-xi

Voltaire's Disciple: Jean-François de La Harpe: front matter
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c7c3651

Frontispiece portrait of de La Harpe; table of contents; list of illustrations; foreword; list of abbreviations.

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xiii-xiv

Introduction
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c8d2a8e

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.

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1-76

Part 1: The Life
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c058855

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

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77-203

Part 2: The Works
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c167c9c

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

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204-06

Conclusion
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c27707f

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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207-74

Notes
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c3864c6

Endnotes to the Introduction and to Chapters I to XIV.

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275-313

Voltaire's Disciple: Jean-François de La Harpe: end matter
Christopher Todd
doi:10.59860/td.c47d26d

Bibliography and Index.

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Bibliography entry:

Todd, Christopher, Voltaire's Disciple: Jean François de La Harpe, MHRA Texts and Dissertations, 7 (MHRA, 1972)

First footnote reference: 35 Christopher Todd, Voltaire's Disciple: Jean François de La Harpe, MHRA Texts and Dissertations, 7 (MHRA, 1972), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Todd, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Todd, Christopher. 1972. Voltaire's Disciple: Jean François de La Harpe, MHRA Texts and Dissertations, 7 (MHRA)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Todd 1972: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Todd 1972: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)


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