LE LANGAGE PROVERBIAL DE VOLTAIRE DANS SA CORRESPONDANCE DU 29 DECEMBRE 1704 AU 31 DECEMBRE 1769 (FRENCH TEXT)

The XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries did not hold proverbs in high esteem. This fact is proved by many examples of condemnation by critics of the time of the use of proverbs in literature and polite conversation. Except in the comedy and the satire we find little proverbial material in the literary compositions of the period, and this may account for the relatively slight attention that has been paid to the use of proverbs in XVIIIth century French literature.;This recent edition is the source from which the proverbs, sentences, and proverbial expressions presented in this collection were gathered. Thirty-five volumes were included in the study, covering the correspondence from December 29, 1704 to December 31, 1769, a span of sixty-five years.;The abundance of the material collected proves that proverbial language was still very much alive in Voltaire's time. Included in this collection are the proverbs, sententious sayings, and proverbial expressions used by Voltaire in his correspondence in prose (the passages in verse were excluded from the study). The main part of this work consists of examples of Voltaire's use of proverbs and similar expressions in French. This section is followed by three shorter units containing the few proverbs, sententious sayings, and proverbial expressions used by him in English, in Spanish, and in Italian. A fourth shorter section lists those very few Latin expressions, among the hundreds that Voltaire used, whose French equivalents were also found.;The conclusions derived from this compilation are that Voltaire preferred sententious utterances and proverbial expressions to the regular proverb form. Also whenever he used a proverbial expression of any sort he appeared to seek an excuse for doing so. His most frequently used devices for this purpose were to attribute his proverbial citations to famous people who had used them before him, or to admit to his correspondents that he was actually daring to use proverbs by presenting them in modified form, sometimes by transforming their content, sometimes by substituting one work for another, sometimes by reversing their meaning, sometimes by combining two or three into one, sometimes by accumulating several of them in a series, and sometimes by alluding to them in ways that put him at a distance from this lowly form of speech.;Thus there has been a need to ascertain whether proverbs continued to be used in the XVIIIth century, and to what extent. Voltaire's correspondence seemed the best point of departure, first of all because epistolary language is the closest to spontaneous, informal speech, and also because Voltaire is the most prolific writer of letters of the XVIIIth century. Moreover, his complete correspondence is available in the admirable edition prepared by Theodore Besterman and his associates between 1968 and 1977.;In short, Voltaire's correspondence provides a good example of what was already suspected about his time: Proverbs were not acceptable as part of what was considered bon ton; and if Voltaire used them, it was with circumspection, even though his fame might have allowed him complete liberty.