WRITER

Voltaire

1694 - 1778

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François-Marie Arouet (French: [fʁɑ̃swa maʁi aʁwɛ]; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire (, US also ; French: [vɔltɛːʁ]), was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Roman Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Voltaire is the 12th most popular writer (down from 9th in 2019), the 8th most popular biography from France (down from 6th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular French Writer.

Voltaire is most famous for his wit and satire, as well as for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state.

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Among WRITERS

Among writers, Voltaire ranks 12 out of 7,302. Before him are J. R. R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, Hans Christian Andersen, Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, and Victor Hugo. After him are James Joyce, Sophocles, Jules Verne, Virgil, Molière, and Miguel de Cervantes.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1694, Voltaire ranks 1. After him are François Quesnay, Yeongjo of Joseon, Francis Hutcheson, Louis-Claude Daquin, Georg Brandt, Paul of the Cross, Leonardo Leo, Hermann Samuel Reimarus, Henry Pelham, Count Palatine Joseph Charles of Sulzbach, and Theodore of Corsica. Among people deceased in 1778, Voltaire ranks 3. Before him are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Carl Linnaeus. After him are William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Laura Bassi, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Anna Maria Mozart, James Hargreaves, Étienne-Gabriel Morelly, Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Thomas Arne, and Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano.

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In France

Among people born in France, Voltaire ranks 8 out of 6,770. Before him are Louis XIV of France (1638), René Descartes (1596), Blaise Pascal (1623), Joan of Arc (1412), Louis XVI of France (1754), and Victor Hugo (1802). After him are Louis Pasteur (1822), Claude Monet (1840), Jules Verne (1828), Molière (1622), Montesquieu (1689), and Maximilien Robespierre (1758).

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Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, Voltaire ranks 2. Before him are Victor Hugo (1802). After him are Jules Verne (1828), Molière (1622), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905), Alexandre Dumas (1802), Honoré de Balzac (1799), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900), Simone de Beauvoir (1908), Charles Baudelaire (1821), Marcel Proust (1871), and Denis Diderot (1713).

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