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Voltaire and Rousseau: Their Rencontre Fortuite
Author(s) -
Scanlan Timothy M.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.1977.tb00728.x
Subject(s) - theme (computing) , narrative , literature , vocabulary , philosophy , composition (language) , history , art , linguistics , computer science , operating system
This paper presents an analysis of two strikingly similar passages ‐ one from Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse , the other from Voltaire's Candide. After the details of the numerous similarities in structure, setting, theme and vocabulary are examined, the possibility of the direct influence of one of these authors upon the other is carefully investigated. A thorough consideration of the chronology of the composition and manuscripts involved leads surprisingly to the conclusion that neither writer could have been influenced by the other at the time he wrote the passage in question. the final conclusion is that what the reader is witnessing is a “chance” meeting of minds and a fortuitous crossing of narrative paths in the case of two authors who were both thoroughly familiar with a novelistic tradition replete with incidences of “fortuitous encounters” of fictional characters.