Micromegas: A New Reader's Edition

For contextual study, Micromegas is accompanied by an afterword tracing Voltaire's intellectual relationships with Enlightenment thinkers and philosophers (including Locke, Diderot, Rousseau and Newton), containing research into his influences and economic attachments, a complete timeline of his life and works, a glossary of Enlightenment terminology, and a detailed index of all of Voltaire's writings. The translation of Micromegas renders Voltaire's sharp satirical prose in modern English while preserving its clarity and pace. The supporting material places Micromegas within Voltaire's broader artistic and philosophical legacy and its later theological reception.

Micromégas was written in the 1750s and first appeared in print in 1752, attributed to "Paris, Michel Lambert" (although Voltaire probably oversaw the 1752 edition widely distributed in the Kingdom of France)g. It was written during the High Enlightenment, a period in which Voltaire was deeply involved in promoting science and criticizing religious fanaticism. The story's interplanetary setting and the traveler outsider showing on Earth were not unique to Voltaire (Montesquieu's Persian Letters is a notable precedent), but here serve to relativize human society and religion. At the time of its publication in 1752 (the surviving authoritative English edition appeared in London in 1753), interest in Newtonian science and the plurality of worlds was high, and Voltaire tapped into this enthusiasm to convey his philosophical messages. The setting of mid 18th century France (and Voltaire's own struggles with censorship) meant that the work was circulated with some discretion, but it echoed with readers who were open to questioning traditional beliefs.