TPO 8 the Chevalier s memoir accuracy

The lecture brings into question the points in the reading passage about the reliability of Chevalier´s memoir. The author of the text claims that the facts may have been distorted by Chevalier. The lecturer completely refutes the arguments in the article, hence, arguing that the explanations given to support this idea are faulty.

Firstly, it is stated by the lecturer that Chevalier was not poor. He used to borrow money from a merchant because he wanted cash and did not want to wait until a property has been sold to get the money, since he used to gamble a lot. This directly contradicts the reading passage that denotes that Chevalier could not be rich just because he used to borrow money.

Secondly, the lecturer safely assumes that after each conversation with Voltaire, Chevalier took notes from everything said. He took years keeping all these records about these conversations. This idea strongly contrasts with the article that mentions that the conversations between him and Voltaire could not be remembered by him, since many year passed between the conversations and the record in the memoir.

Finally, the lecturer believes that Chevalier scaped from the prision by climbing the ceiling and not by offering bribe to the soldiers. Because documents proved that the ceiling was repaired after Chevalier had scaped from there. Furthermore, a lot of other prisioners had more influencial friends than Chevalier and no one could scape from prision as Chevalier. The text, on the other hand, states that the wealthy friends of Chevalier payed jailers in exchange for his liberty.