Divagazioni su temi voltairiani: gusto, stile, lusso, ironia

The aim of this paper is to stress the relevance in Voltaire’s thought of such notions as style and taste not only in the literary and aesthetical domains, but in the ethical one as well. As a dramatic author and poet, Voltaire held fast to the traditional rules of classicism and rhetoric; his prose works, and even his correspondence, show instead how his esprit and irony, and his defence of luxury too, were, first of all, the display of a higher, more enlightened civilisation.