Les représentations de la femme dans l’univers oriental des Contes de Voltaire

Abstract

The various representations of feminine figures in Voltaire’s Tales are drawn from the large oriental thesaurus constituted essentially by the travel narratives, the « Arab tales » translated by Antoine Galland and titled Les Mille et Une Nuits (The One thousand and One Nights), the Oriental Library of Barthélémy d’Herbelot or relations collected from stories told by people who have visited Orient lands. The Koran read by Voltaire in English and in French is one of the numerous sources of imagery for Voltaire who dyes his portraits of an oriental tinge and multiply the figures issued from this cultural context yet unknown for the contemporary european readership: women cloistered in harems and seraglios, women taken by privateers or corsairs, veiled women, odalisques, queens… These female characters painted by Voltaire put us in front of compelling questions about the sources of Voltaire’s access to this quasi mythical universe. This universe constitutes his representation’s foundation of an Orient constructed from several sources which are othrnesses mirrors. Without being sought for itself, the Voltaire’s Orient is made to serve the great philosophical project claiming the spirit of the Enlightenment.

Keywords

• Orient
• woman
• representation
• veil
• tale
• Quran