Histoire des voyages de Scarmentado

A witty, self‑styled travelogue follows the restless protagonist Scarmentado from his birth in the exotic city of Candie to his formative years in Rome. Sent to study under a towering scholar, he narrowly avoids becoming a pawn in aristocratic intrigue, while the colorful locals—poets, courtiers, and scheming priests—populate his early adventures with satire and bawdy humor. Through vivid anecdotes of processions, exorcisms and daring escapades, the narrative offers a playful critique of education, authority and the pretensions of genteel society.

Leaving Italy, Scarmentado’s journey carries him across the stormy landscape of France during the reign of a famously austere monarch. Here he confronts a nation riddled with civil strife, religious tensions and the absurdities of power, all filtered through Voltaire’s sharp, ironic voice. The opening sections set a lively stage for a broader exploration of liberty, folly, and the human desire to chart one’s own destiny.