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| Société des études voltairiennes | |
|---|---|
| Name | Société des études voltairiennes |
| Formation | 1919 |
| Type | Learned society |
| Headquarters | Paris |
| Leader title | President |
Société des études voltairiennes The Société des études voltairiennes is a French learned society dedicated to the study of François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, and the Enlightenment milieu surrounding him. Founded in the early 20th century, the society fosters scholarly research on Voltaire's writings, correspondence, and networks, while promoting connections with institutions and figures in European intellectual history such as Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu, Émilie du Châtelet, and David Hume. Its activities interlink with archival repositories, university centres, and publishing houses associated with figures like Gustave Flaubert, Victor Hugo, Alexis de Tocqueville, Georges Clemenceau, and Jules Michelet.
The society was established in 1919 amid post-World War I intellectual renewal, drawing founders influenced by scholars linked to Henri Bergson, Émile Durkheim, Paul Valéry, Marcel Proust, and André Gide. Early initiatives engaged with bibliographic work on Voltaire's correspondence alongside comparative studies involving authors such as Samuel Richardson, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and Immanuel Kant. During the interwar period the society collaborated with libraries and museums connected to Bibliothèque nationale de France, Musée Carnavalet, Château de Ferney, Université Paris-Sorbonne, and Collège de France. In the aftermath of World War II the society renewed ties with international organizations like the British Academy, the Royal Society, the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and research centres in Rome, Berlin, Moscow, and Prague.
The society’s governance comprises a president, vice-presidents, a secretary-general, and a treasurer elected by members from academic institutions such as Université de Strasbourg, Université de Genève, Université de Montréal, Università di Bologna, and Harvard University. Advisory boards often include curators from Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon, directors from the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, and editors associated with Gallimard and Presses Universitaires de France. Statutes require adherence to norms comparable to those of the Société des Antiquaires de France and coordination with municipal authorities in Paris and regional councils near Ferney-Voltaire. Committees oversee finance, publications, archives, and international relations with partners like the Comité International des Études du XVIIIe Siècle.
The society publishes a peer-reviewed journal and monograph series that document textual editions, critical essays, and archival discoveries involving figures such as Voltaire's contemporaries Marquis de Sade, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, and translators like Charles-Joseph Panckoucke. Regular issues feature studies on manuscripts kept at repositories such as Archives Nationales, Bibliothèque Mazarine, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, and Bibliothèque nationale de France holdings connected to Marie-Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin and Madame du Deffand. The journal compares Voltairean themes with works by William Shakespeare, Molière, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, and analyses referencing editions from Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Éditions Gallimard.
The society organizes annual colloquia, symposia, and seminars in partnership with universities and cultural sites, hosting sessions at venues like Château de Voltaire (Ferney), Palais du Louvre, École normale supérieure, and international centres including Yale University, Columbia University, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Universidade de São Paulo. Speakers have included historians and literary critics working on Enlightenment, such as specialists in Diderot, Rousseau, Hume, Adam Smith, and Helvétius, as well as curators from Musée Voltaire and editors from Mercure de France. Conferences often address intersections with political events like the French Revolution, the Seven Years' War, and diplomatic correspondences involving Louis XV and Frederick the Great.
Research projects sponsored or supported by the society encompass critical editions, digital humanities initiatives, and archival cataloguing linking Voltaire’s correspondence to collections in Prussia, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. Projects have mapped networks connecting Voltaire to patrons such as Madame de Pompadour, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, and Abbé Prévost, and to printers and publishers like Didot and Panckoucke. Collaborative ventures include digitization with institutions such as the Bibliothèque électronique du Québec, partnerships with the International Institute of Social History, and contributions to projects concerning Enlightenment Salons and the circulation of manuscripts between Amsterdam and Venice.
Membership comprises researchers, librarians, curators, teachers from conservatoires and universities, and private collectors from regions including France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, and United States. Outreach programs target secondary schools, municipal libraries, and cultural associations, arranging exhibitions that display artifacts associated with names like Frédéric II (the Great), Catherine the Great, D'Alembert, and Turgot. The society also liaises with public broadcasters, academic publishers, and heritage NGOs engaged with sites such as Château de Versailles and regional archives in Normandy and Burgundy.
The society awards prizes and scholarships for best doctoral dissertations, edition projects, and archival research, honoring work on Voltaire and linked figures such as Émilie du Châtelet, François Quesnay, Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, Nicolas de Condorcet, and Raynal. Recipients have included scholars affiliated with École des hautes études en sciences sociales, King's College London, McGill University, Università di Napoli, and Freie Universität Berlin. The society’s distinctions are recognized by cultural bodies like the Ministère de la Culture, municipal councils in Geneva, and international academies dedicated to 18th-century studies.