Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 02.djvu/19

 HESE ROMANCES, mostly short stories, are regarded by many of the foremost experts in literature as among the finest and strongest productions of Voltaire's unique literary genius. Each was written with a definite purpose; it holds the mirror up to a delusion of the day, and perhaps to some of our day. This it does ruthlessly enough, yet with so gracious a humor that the shock carries with it a sensation of exquisite pleasure and tonic after-effect. They have all the best characteristics of the Oriental tales then in vogue, and as examples of pure style in its most delicate modes of expression they are rightly pronounced incomparable.