Voltaire’s Incomplete Works (and Why They Will Stay that Way)

Abstract

The Complete works of Voltaire published by the Voltaire Foundation were begun in 1968 and will be completed in 203 volumes in 2021. In so far as discoveries of manuscripts and editions will continue to be made, this monumental edition is necessarily incomplete. But it is also incomplete in another more profound sense. Eighteenth-century editions of Voltaire present an often unstable version of the text; Voltaire cultivates an open and fluid style, making frequent use of self-quotation, and blurring traditional generic boundaries; Voltaire's characteristically slippery authorial posture, making frequent use of anonymity and pseudonymity, adds further instability to the œuvre. For all these reasons, Voltaire's works present a particular challenge to the critical editor of a print edition – a challenge that perhaps can only be fully met in a digital critical edition.