Two Voltairean Plays: The Triumvirate and Comedy at Ferney

By Voltaire, Albéric Second and Louis Lurine

Set in Roman times, Voltaire's play THE TRIUMVIRATE details a meeting on an island between Anthony and Octavian, in which the two main players in the post-Caesar Roman world decide how to divide up the spoils of war--and eliminate all potential rivals. Anthony agrees to divorce his wife Fulvia and marry Octavian's sister; and Octavian wants to marry Julia, Lucius's daughter, who loves Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great. When a storm lands Julia and Pompey Junior on the island, Fulvia agrees to help the star-crossed lovers--if they will aid her in gaining her revenge on Anthony and Octavian. Louis Lurine and Albéric Second's play COMEDY AT FERNEY features an elderly Voltaire, who must put off a starstruck young female fan who wants to meet him. But Voltaire's guest, the Prince de Ligne, decides to use the situation to sample the favors of the infatuated woman. A clever and swift-moving comedy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: May 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479409716

Voltaire

Voltaire (París, 1694-1778), seudónimo de François-Marie Arouet, fue escritor, abogado, filósofo y pensador, considerado como uno de los más importantes intelectuales de la Ilustración y una de las personalidades más brillantes y provocadoras de su época. La obra de Voltaire es heterogénea, abarca desde poemas filosóficos y novelas satíricas, hasta obras de teatro y ensayo; en ella destacan sus relatos y libros de polémica ideológica. Colaboró en la redacción de la emblemática Enciclopedia, una de las obras más importantes de su tiempo, que le valió nuevos problemas con la Iglesia.

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