The Friends of Voltaire

In the lively salons of pre‑revolutionary France, a circle of thinkers gathered around Voltaire, each eager to dismantle ignorance and reshape society. Though Voltaire dominates history, his companions—philosophers, economists, playwrights, and salon hostesses—were equally vital in lighting the path toward the French Revolution. The first portrait focuses on Jean‑Baptiste Lerond d’Alembert, a newborn abandoned on the steps of Saint‑Jean in 1717 and rescued by a passing gendarme, who would later become Newton’s intellectual heir, the chief architect of the Encyclopédie’s celebrated preface, and a magnetic presence in Parisian intellectual life.

Drawing on letters, memoirs and contemporary essays, the narrative weaves scholarly insight with vivid anecdotes, revealing d’Alembert’s restless curiosity, his famous liaison with Mademoiselle de Lespinasse, and the occasional contradictions that made the Enlightenment both brilliant and human. Listeners are treated to the debates, humor, and personal struggles that animated the era, offering an intimate glimpse of the intellectual adventure that set the stage for revolutionary change.