Voltaireans and Voltairean Women. An Old Novel

The novel "Voltaireans and Voltairean Women," to which Vasily Aksyonov gave the subtitle "An Old Novel," was awarded the "Russian Booker" prize. The action takes place in the 1760s of the 18th century, the "gallant century," when a meeting between Her Majesty Catherine the Second and the philosopher and free thinker Voltaire is anticipated. The Empress's envoy, the scheming Count Von-Figin, engages in conversations with the great thinker that are not merely philosophical in nature.

In the best traditions of adventure novels, two dashing Ryazan rakes, guarding Voltaire and calling themselves Nicolas and Michel in France, find themselves in unimaginable predicaments, emerging from them with honor—all for the attention of two young twin Kurfurstinnen. Reality and mysticism, historical figures and characters created by the author's imagination, vivid scenes and a master of black magic, diplomatic intrigues, serious passions, the drama of timeless Voltairean ideas.

From the medallion, the youthful face of Sophia-Frederica Auguste Anhalt-Zerbst, now Catherine the Second, Empress of All Russia, looked at Voltaire. "Oh God! Sir! Forgive me my wretched liberties! I accept your sign, Most Merciful and Almighty!!!" He fell to one knee—the threads of his trousers slightly strained at the knee—and pressed his dry lips to the lower part of the portrait, where the folds of fabric and the breast, blooming like the morning dawn, were masterfully delineated. "Oh august one, only my obvious seventy-year-old youth prevents me from kissing your generous hands in my dreams!"

Vasily Aksyonov