Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (Complete Works of Voltaire) 78A

After his final attack on Shakespeare, the "Lettre de Monsieur de Voltaire à Messieurs de l’Académie française", Voltaire composed "Irène" as a demonstration of the supremacy of French theatre. Whereas he had previously failed to win Marie Antoinette’s favour with his divertissement, "L’Hôte et l’hôtesse", "Irène" finally granted him a triumphant return to Paris shortly before his death. During the years 1776-1777, Voltaire continued his fight against serfdom in the Jura region through his "Supplique à M. Turgot", the "Lettre du révérend père Polycarpe" and the "Lettre d’un bénédictin de Franche-Comté", while his "Dialogue de Maxime de Madaure, entre Sophronime et Adélos" reveals a preoccupation with mortality at the close of his life.