Ce volume contient les articles que Voltaire redigea pour l'Encyclopedie, ainsi que ceux pour la quatrieme edition du Dictionnaire de l'Academie (1762).

1739-1741 were stressful but highly creative years for Voltaire, his output ranging from science to polemic, from politics to poetry. Scientific research remains at the forefront, with Voltaire championing Newton's theories despite the opposition of the scientific establishment. Voltaire was in this period anxious to consolidate his reputation, and his continuing reflections on the nature of a literary career led to the publication of both his personalised "Memoire du sieur de Voltaire" and more general reflections on literary quarrels in "Memoire sur le satire". Public quarrels had become an integral part of the 'Republic of Letters' and Voltaire's disillusionment is clear in "Lettres sur les inconvenients attaches a la litterature". His verse ranges from crude satire to some of his most touching lyric poetry in the "Stances a Madame Du Chatelet". Altogether, this collection brings together the complex and contrasting works of a complex and flexible writer.

Voltaire's satirical epic "La Pucelle" was one of the most contentious works of his career, and was outlawed, burned and banned for much of the following two centuries. His trenchant criticism of superstition finds its full expression in this poem, which retells the story of France's heroine Joan of Arc from an irreverent, ribald point of view. In fact there are two poems: the early pirated copy that was widely distributed, having been spiced up and supplemented by its unauthorised editors, and Voltaire's later official version, considerably toned-down. This edition is among the first to present these two texts in their entirety, without trying to create a composite. The complicated history of "La Pucelle"'s composition, its various editions and its lasting influence are here related in full, alongside the full texts of both 'poems', allowing readers to judge the still-controversial masterpiece for themselves.