Passionate Minds
2006 novel by David Bodanis
Passionate Minds: The Great Enlightenment Love Affair is a 2006 book by author David Bodanis. Written in the form of a novel, the book deals with the life and love of Voltaire and his mistress, scientist Émilie du Châtelet. It also discusses the theories they propounded about life, theology and the nature of the universe. The story was written with the aid of historic letters of correspondence between Émilie and Voltaire, as well as between several other prominent figures of the Enlightenment.
Citation
The full bibliographic citation of the book in question is:
Bodanis, David (2006). Passionate Minds: The Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment. New York, NY, USA: Crown. ISBN 9780307237200. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
Background
The novel is set in the period of development in Western Europe known as the Age of Enlightenment.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Passionate Minds” as 2006 novel by David Bodanis. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2006 novel by David Bodanis. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7142764. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006 and 2015.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Passionate Minds”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Passionate Minds primary sources, Passionate Minds archive and Passionate research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Passionate Minds”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Passionate Minds” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.