Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter - Softcover

Quinones, Ricardo J.

9781487520007: Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 148752000X ISBN 13: 9781487520007

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2015

Despite comparisons between Erasmus and Voltaire having become common-place in the course of the nineteenth century, this is the first full study to bring them together in their careers, their works, and their historic afterlives. Each was a force for change in his time and thus ranks among the masters of modern liberalism. Beginning with the continuities between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, award-winning scholar Ricardo J. Quinones joins Erasmus and Voltaire as voices of moderation and reason that remain capable of addressing the philosophical crises of twentieth-century thought.

A companion piece to Dualisms, Quinones' 2007 book, Erasmus and Voltaire differs in method: where its predecessor looked to inveterate, unyielding differences, this new work looks to similarities. In delving beneath the obvious differences between these two intellectual giants, Quinones uncovers the great practical and spiritual vocations that unite them.

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About the Author:

Ricardo J. Quinones is a professor emeritus in the Department of English at Claremont McKenna College.

Review:

'Quinones's book is a superb piece of work that will appeal not only to scholars but also to the learned general reader. Juxtaposing the lives and writings of Erasmus and Voltaire, Quinones makes good on his claim that comparison brings an added dimension to entities by drawing them into a new web of relationships.
'[Quinones's] comparisons are subtle and nuanced, and his methodology sound. He rigorously ties psychological readings to text-critical analyses and has an admirable grasp of the mentalit� of the two movements, humanism and Enlightenment, represented by the protagonists ... The book has many commendable features. It showcases the author's erudition and his impressively broad reading. It offers original and insightful interpretations of the writings of Erasmus and Voltaire and argues them convincingly.'

(Erika Rummel Renaissance Quarterly, Fall 2010 (63:03:10))

‘Subtle and grounded in historical and biographical events ... Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter is a book to be read by both Renaissance and Enlightenment scholars.’ (Guy Poirier Erasmus Society Yearbook)

‘Deploying a magisterial command of the literary, historical, and philosophical scholarship ... Quinones finds in the dualisms and skeptical optimism of Erasmus and Voltaire a relevance that resonates with the modern world.’ (Thomas L. Cooksey South Atlantic Review)

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