Avi Lifschitz
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diderotesque.bsky.social
Avi Lifschitz
@diderotesque.bsky.social
5.6K followers 710 following 18 posts
Historian of ideas and culture, hovering between the 18th century and the 21st - and between Oxford, Berlin and London. https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/people/associate-professor-avi-lifschitz
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Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
How universalist was Enlightenment thought? In our 2025 Besterman Lecture, Antoine Lilti (Collège de France) discusses 'The three languages of universalism: thinking globally in the Enlightenment’. Thursday 13 Nov, 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social:
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/bester...
October 8, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New to the series | Mexican Jesuits write the history of the Americas by Luis Ramos. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/MexicanJesuits #EighteenthCentury 📖 @voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Promotional graphic for the book Mexican Jesuits Write the History of the Americas: Reason, Rights and Revolution (1767–1824) by Luis Ramos. The book cover is shown on the right with a blue background and an illustration of a domed building and a large public gathering. On the left, a blue text box reads: ‘An examination of how three exiled Jesuits shaped the discourse of continental emancipation from Spain.’ Logos of Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, and the Voltaire Foundation appear at the bottom.
September 11, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
APPEL À COMMUNICATIONS: Voltaire et les passions, Société des études voltairiennes

voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/ap...
APPEL À COMMUNICATIONS: Voltaire et les passions, Société des études voltairiennes
Colloque international organisé par la Société des études voltairiennes, Paris, 18-19 juin 2026 Sorbonne Université, Maison de la recherche, salle D040 PDF L’enquête sur le traitement, par Voltaire…
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
November 3, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New to the series | Sports and sociability in Britain in the long eighteenth century edited by Alexis Tadié and Caroline Bertonèche. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/SportsandSociability #EighteenthCentury 📖
@voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Promotional image for the book Sports and Sociability in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century, edited by Caroline Bertonèche and Alexis Tadié. The book cover features an 18th-century illustration of two people playing hockey. The background includes decorative line art and text reading: “An original perspective on sporting practices in Britain and transformations of sociability in the Enlightenment.” Logos at the bottom include Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment & the Voltaire Foundation.
October 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Happy to announce the Enlightenment Workshop Programme 2025-26!

This year convened by Nicholas Cronk and Jacob Chatterjee (New College).

Come for a packed November!

www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/home/researc...
Enlightenment Workshop
www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
📣📣📣 Opportunity: Director of the Voltaire Foundation 📣📣📣

We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to succeed Professor Nicholas Cronk, and warmly invite applications.

www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/op...
Opportunity: Director of the Voltaire Foundation
We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to succeed Professor Nicholas Cronk, and warmly invite applications. The Voltaire Foundation, originally established thanks to the…
www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
New on the blog:
Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French philosopher Voltaire.

voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/t...
Three Near-Identical Voltaire Letters
Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French philosopher Voltaire. The Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford …
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
diderotesque.bsky.social
Thanks for the hospitality! Looking forward to working together.
echo-rhetoric.bsky.social echo @echo-rhetoric.bsky.social · Oct 22
‪@echo-rhetoric.bsky.social‬
#echo welcomes Avi Lifschitz as a #VisitingFellow from October 2025 to June 2026. He is Professor of Intellectual History and Enlightenment Studies at the University of Oxford.

ℹ - Find out more: www.fu-berlin.de/en/sites/ech...
October 22, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
New on the blog: our postdoctoral research assistant Sonya Dmitrieva on Voltaire as an owl.

voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/10/17/h...
October 17, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Extended deadline!

Call for Papers now open until 20 October.
October 8, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
The excellent journal Lumières is looking for contributions to its 'varia' and book review sections. More info: www.pub-editions.fr/fr/868-lumie...; past issues: shs.cairn.info/revue-lumier...
September 29, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
royalhistsoc.org
This week's 'Last Word', BBC Radio 4, includes the medieval historian Barbara Harvey (1928-2025) bit.ly/3KmCQ6M (9 mins 32).

Among her many contributions to the profession, Barbara was Vice President of the Society, 1986-90. With contributions from former colleagues Joanna Innes and John Blair.
September 25, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
damianobardelli.bsky.social
Do you work on the intellectual history of the long 18th century?

Have you an interest in subjects relating to poverty and inequalities?

Then you should definitely answer this call!

For more info, you can dm me ✉️
September 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
roydipiazza.bsky.social
Happy to share my new blog post on C18 French-Swedish relations for the Oxford Centre for Intellectual History blog @oxfordcih.bsky.social. French-Swedish diplomacy treated cultural alignment as a powerful vehicle for political change in Sweden👇
intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/article/enli...
Enlightening the king: French-Swedish relations in the letters of Gustaf Philip Creutz with Gustav III
intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk
September 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
In 2026, to accompany the digital edition of Voltaire’s complete works (OV: www.ov-vf.com), the Voltaire Foundation will launch Voltaire Iconography – an open-access critically annotated database of visual representations of Voltaire.

www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/digital-enli...
Voltaire Foundation
www.ov-vf.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Call for Papers!

A social question before the Social Question – Addressing poverty in the long eighteenth century

Deadline 31 December 2025

voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/ca...
Call for Papers: A social question before the Social Question - Addressing poverty in the long eighteenth century
University of Oxford 22-23 October 2026 A pdf file of this call can be found here. Precariousness and hardships were inescapable features of the life of the lower orders in early modern European…
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
September 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Read all about our new digital edition, Oxford University Voltaire, in the newest blog by our research editors!

And ask your librarian for the free trial!

voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/c...
Calling all librarians – sign up for Oxford University Voltaire free trial
The Voltaire Foundation and Liverpool University Press are delighted to announce that the new online edition of Voltaire’s complete works, including extensive scholarly apparatus, is now available …
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
September 10, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Apply by 27 October!
voltaire.ox.ac.uk Voltaire Foundation @voltaire.ox.ac.uk · Jul 14
Five funded PhD positions (4 years each) at the Politics of Enlightenment research group at IZEA @unihalle.bsky.social! Details here: polight.uni-halle.de/en/five-posi...
September 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxfordcih.bsky.social
Congratulations to Mrinalini Wadhwa of our MPhil in Intellectual History (and @magdalenoxford.bsky.social) on a fascinating blog post @jhideas.bsky.social!
jhideas.bsky.social Journal of the History of Ideas @jhideas.bsky.social · Sep 2
In today’s think piece, Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa analyzes how historian Sylvia Murr’s discovery of plagiarism in “the most celebrated work of nineteenth-century Indology” led her to develop an approach to historical discourse that challenges received genealogies of the ‘global’ turn.
The Franco-Indian Enlightenment of Sylvia Murr
by Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa
web.sas.upenn.edu
September 4, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New on the blog | 'The making and remaking of the Enlightenment' by Hanna Roman & Olivia Sabee. In this post, the authors reflect on their recent publication in the series and its relevance to the current political climate. Read now: bit.ly/remaking-the-enlightenment 📚 @voltaire.ox.ac.uk #c18
August 26, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxfordcih.bsky.social
Don’t miss our DPhil student Harun Ali's thorough introduction to a posthumous essay by the great J. G. A. Pocock! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
J. G. A. Pocock, essay on the fourth volume of Gibbon's Decline and Fall
This essay presents J. G. A. Pocock reflections on Gibbon’s fourth volume and the shift it marks in the Decline and Fall towards a narrative we might consider ‘Byzantine’. It is the work of Gibbon’...
www.tandfonline.com
September 4, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
tayoxford.bsky.social
📝 New Blog Post! 📝

Check out this new @voltaire.ox.ac.uk blog post by Nicholas Cronk, celebrating our recent acquisition of a rare printing of Voltaire's Candide, from 1791.

Read on to learn more about the novel itself and the history of its publication, as well as more details on our new edition!
Reading ‘Candide’ during the French Revolution
The Taylor Institution Library (Bodleian Libraries) has recently acquired a rare printing of Candide dating from the Revolutionary period: this edition of 1791 was not known to the principal biblio…
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
As promised, the latest news (blog) about this rare printing of Candide!

voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2025/08/28/r...
Reading ‘Candide’ during the French Revolution
The Taylor Institution Library (Bodleian Libraries) has recently acquired a rare printing of Candide dating from the Revolutionary period: this edition of 1791 was not known to the principal biblio…
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
August 28, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
jhideas.bsky.social
The recent issue of the JHI includes an article by Ingrid Schreiber: "Egoism and Sociability in the Kantian Public Sphere" muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...
A quote from the article: "We may never truly be alone in Kantianism, but we are also never really together—perhaps to our ultimate advantage."
August 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New to the series | La Place Louis XV from the Old Regime to the Revolution by Victoria E. Thompson. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/LaPlaceLouisXV #EighteenthCentury 📖 @voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Promotional image for the book La Place Louis XV from the Old Regime to the Revolution: King and people in the Parisian royal square by Victoria E. Thompson. The book cover is shown on the right, featuring an illustration of an 18th-century Parisian square with a statue of a mounted figure and a large crowd. On the left, the same illustration is used as a faded background with a blue box containing the text: 'A new perspective on the decline of the monarchy in the eighteenth century by focusing the analysis on an urban space.' Logos at the bottom include Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, Voltaire Foundation, and University of Oxford.
August 15, 2025 at 10:30 AM