The Essay - Enlightenment Voices - Voltaire - Voltaire's Library and Legacy

When Voltaire died in 1778 at the grand old age of 84, he was the most famous writer in the world. Whatever his doubts about the Christian afterlife, his own immortality was assured. In this fifth and final Essay on Voltaire, Professor Nicholas Cronk explores the legacy of this greatest of Enlightenment figures. He starts with the extraordinary story of the removal of Voltaire's library, book by book - and there were some seven thousand of them - from his chateau in France all the way to St Petersburg, where Catherine the Great planned to build a sort of Voltaire theme park. He explores Voltaire's celebrity status, both before and after his death, and goes on to discuss how his ideas - about politics, about religion, about tolerance - continue to resonate today. He concludes with a poignant illustration of how, in the true spirit of the Enlightenment, writers continue to debate with Voltaire and, in so doing, perpetuate his legacy. Professor Nicholas Cronk, director of the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford. Reader Simon Russell Beale Producer Beaty Rubens (Repeat).