Candide: or, The Optimist: Bestsellers and famous Books

By Voltaire

Candide: or, All for the Best, The Optimist or Optimism begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply "optimism") by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds". Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious Bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.[8] As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.
As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté.[9] However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: anboco
• Release date: Oct 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9783736417441

Voltaire

Voltaire was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778)a French philosopher and an author who was as prolific as he was influential. In books, pamphlets and plays, he startled, scandalized and inspired his age with savagely sharp satire that unsparingly attacked the most prominent institutions of his day, including royalty and the Roman Catholic Church. His fiery support of freedom of speech and religion, of the separation of church and state, and his intolerance for abuse of power can be seen as ahead of his time, but earned him repeated imprisonments and exile before they won him fame and adulation.

Book preview

CANDIDE

By VOLTAIRE

INTRODUCTION BY PHILIP LITTELL

INTRODUCTION

Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote Candide in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world has been a gayer place for readers. Voltaire wrote it in three days, and five or six generations have found that its laughter does not grow old.

Candide has not aged. Yet how different the book would have looked if Voltaire had written it a hundred and fifty years later than 1759. It would have been, among other things, a book of sights and sounds. A modern writer would have tried to catch and fix in words some of those Atlantic changes which broke the Atlantic monotony of that voyage from Cadiz to Buenos Ayres. When Martin and Candide were sailing the length of the Mediterranean we should have had a contrast between naked scarped Balearic cliffs and headlands of Calabria in their mists. We should have had quarter distances, far horizons, the altering silhouettes of an Ionian island. Colored birds would have filled Paraguay with their silver or acid cries.

Dr. Pangloss, to prove the existence of design in the universe, says that noses were made to carry spectacles, and so we have spectacles. A modern satirist would not try to paint with Voltaire's quick brush the doctrine that he wanted to expose. And he would choose a more complicated doctrine than Dr. Pangloss's optimism, would study it more closely, feel his destructive way about it with a more learned and caressing malice. His attack, stealthier, more flexible and more patient than Voltaire's, would call upon us, especially when his learning got a little out of control, to be more than patient. Now and then he would bore us. Candide never bored anybody except William Wordsworth.

Voltaire's men and women point his case against optimism by starting high and falling low. A modern could not go about it after this fashion. He would not plunge his people into an unfamiliar misery. He would just keep them in the misery they were born to.

But such an account of Voltaire's procedure is as misleading as the plaster cast of a dance. Look at his procedure again. Mademoiselle Cunégonde, the illustrious Westphalian, sprung from a family that could prove seventy-one quarterings, descends and descends until we find her earning her keep by washing dishes in the Propontis. The aged faithful attendant, victim of a hundred acts of rape by negro pirates, remembers that she is the daughter of a pope, and that in honor of her approaching marriage with a Prince of Massa-Carrara all Italy wrote sonnets of which not one was passable. We do not need to know French literature before Voltaire in order to feel, although the lurking parody may escape us, that he is poking fun at us and at himself. His laughter at his own methods grows more unmistakable at the last, when he caricatures them by casually assembling six fallen monarchs in an inn at Venice.

A modern assailant of optimism would arm himself with social pity. There is no social pity in Candide. Voltaire, whose light touch on familiar institutions opens them and reveals their absurdity, likes to remind us that the slaughter and pillage and murder which Candide witnessed among the Bulgarians was perfectly regular, having been conducted according to the laws and usages of war. Had Voltaire lived to-day he would have done to poverty what he did to war. Pitying the poor, he would have shown us poverty as a ridiculous anachronism, and both the ridicule and the pity would have expressed his indignation.

Almost any modern, essaying a philosophic tale, would make it long. Candide is only a Hamlet and a half long. It would hardly have been shorter if Voltaire had spent three months on it, instead of those three days. A conciseness to be matched in English by nobody except Pope, who can say a plagiarizing enemy steals much, spends little, and has nothing left, a conciseness which Pope toiled and sweated for, came as easy as wit to Voltaire. He can afford to be witty, parenthetically, by the way, prodigally, without saving, because he knows there is more wit where that came from.

One of Max Beerbohm's cartoons shows us the young Twentieth Century going at top speed, and watched by two of his predecessors. Underneath is this legend: The Grave Misgivings of the Nineteenth Century, and the Wicked Amusement of the Eighteenth, in Watching the Progress (or whatever it is) of the Twentieth. This Eighteenth Century snuff-taking and malicious, is like Voltaire, who nevertheless must know, if he happens to think of it, that not yet in the Twentieth Century, not for all its speed mania, has any one come near to equalling the speed of a prose tale by Voltaire. Candide is a full book. It is filled with mockery, with inventiveness, with things as concrete as things to eat and coins, it has time for the neatest intellectual clickings, it is never hurried, and it moves with the most amazing rapidity. It has the rapidity of high spirits playing a game. The dry high spirits of this destroyer of optimism make most optimists look damp and depressed. Contemplation of the stupidity which deems happiness possible almost made Voltaire happy. His attack on optimism is one of the gayest books in the world. Gaiety has been scattered everywhere up and down its pages by Voltaire's lavish hand, by his thin fingers.

Many propagandist satirical books have been written with Candide in mind, but not too many. To-day, especially, when new faiths are changing the structure of the world, faiths which are still plastic enough to be deformed by every disciple, each disciple for himself, and which have not yet received the final deformation known as universal acceptance, to-day Candide is an inspiration to every narrative satirist who hates one of these new faiths, or hates every interpretation of it but his own. Either hatred will serve as a motive to satire.

That is why the present is one of the right moments to republish Candide. I hope it will inspire younger men and women, the only ones who can be inspired, to have a try at Theodore, or Militarism; Jane, or Pacifism; at So-and-So, the Pragmatist or the Freudian. And I hope, too, that they will without trying hold their pens with an eighteenth century lightness, not inappropriate to a philosophic tale. In Voltaire's fingers, as Anatole France has said, the pen runs and laughs.

Philip Littell.

CANDIDE

I

HOW CANDIDE WAS BROUGHT UP IN A MAGNIFICENT CASTLE, AND HOW HE WAS EXPELLED THENCE.

In a castle of Westphalia, belonging to the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, lived a youth, whom nature had endowed with the most gentle manners. His countenance was a true picture of his soul. He combined a true judgment with simplicity of spirit, which was the reason, I apprehend, of his being called Candide. The old servants of the family suspected him to have been the son of the Baron's sister, by a good, honest gentleman of the neighborhood, whom that young lady would never marry because he had been able to prove only seventy-one quarterings, the rest of his genealogical tree having been lost through the injuries of time.

The Baron was one of the most powerful lords in Westphalia, for his castle had not only a gate, but windows. His great hall, even, was hung with tapestry. All the dogs of his farm-yards formed a pack of hounds at need; his grooms were his huntsmen; and the curate of the village was his grand almoner. They called him My Lord, and laughed at all his stories.

The Baron's lady weighed about three hundred and fifty pounds, and was therefore a person of great consideration, and she did the honours of the house with a dignity that commanded still greater respect. Her daughter Cunegonde was seventeen years of age, fresh-coloured, comely, plump, and desirable. The Baron's son seemed to be in every respect worthy of his father. The Preceptor Pangloss[1] was the oracle of the family, and little Candide heard his lessons with all the good faith of his age and character.

Pangloss was professor of metaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology. He proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause, and that, in this best of all possible worlds, the Baron's castle was the most magnificent of castles, and his lady the best of all possible Baronesses.

It is demonstrable, said he, that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end. Observe, that the nose has been formed to bear spectacles—thus we have spectacles. Legs are visibly designed for stockings—and we have stockings. Stones were made to be hewn, and to construct castles—therefore my lord has a magnificent castle; for the greatest baron in the province ought to be the best lodged. Pigs were made to be eaten—therefore we eat pork all the year round. Consequently they who assert that all is well have said a foolish thing, they should have said all is for the best.

Candide listened attentively and believed innocently; for he thought Miss Cunegonde extremely beautiful, though he never had the courage to tell her so. He concluded that after the happiness of being born of Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, the second degree of happiness was to be Miss Cunegonde, the third that of seeing her every day, and the fourth that of hearing Master Pangloss, the greatest philosopher of the whole province, and consequently of the whole world.

One day Cunegonde, while walking near the castle, in a little wood which they called a park, saw between the bushes, Dr. Pangloss giving a lesson in experimental natural philosophy to her mother's chamber-maid, a little brown wench, very pretty and very docile. As Miss Cunegonde had a great disposition for the sciences, she breathlessly observed the repeated experiments of which she was a witness; she clearly perceived the force of the Doctor's reasons, the effects, and the causes; she turned back greatly flurried, quite pensive, and filled with the desire to be learned; dreaming that she might well be a sufficient reason for young Candide, and he for her.

She met Candide on reaching the castle and blushed; Candide blushed also; she wished him good morrow in a faltering tone, and Candide spoke to her without knowing what he said. The next day after dinner, as they went from table, Cunegonde and Candide found themselves behind a screen; Cunegonde let fall her handkerchief, Candide picked it up, she took

Reviews for Candide

[xiaomarlo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hilarious! Ever since reading The Baroque Cycle (or at least the first two books and the first half of the third one) I've loved this historical period, and it's clear Stephenson wrote it with Candide in mind. It's silly, clever, and risqué, and you can read it in an afternoon.

[gazzy_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Classic modern fable exploring the once popular philosophy of 'everything now is exactly as it should be and for the best' with comedic results.

[terrapinjetta_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely hilarious, and extremely easy to read as well.

[wenestvedt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I saw this at the Guthrie Theater in the late 80s and it was great; the story still holds up.

[schufman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable, especially for a philosophical stint. Definitely a book I will want to read several times over to digest, but for an initial reading it was fairly light.

[signature103 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very funny. Cynical. This edition was a please to read. Not great realistic storytelling but that wasn't the point of it, now was it.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Zeker mooiste verhaal van Voltaire. Episodisch opgebouwd, maar met duidelijke lijn: de Bildung van Candide; ontluistering van het verhaal van Pangloss en tussendoor de traditionele stokpaardjes van Voltaire.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting satire - wonderful narration.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Candide by Voltaire is a humorous satire featuring the ultimate optimist experiencing life from so many different angles that this optimism is sorely tested. First published in 1759, the main character is Candide and he and his various companions travel around the world from Europe to South America and eventually settle on a small farm outside of Constantinople. They experience amazing adventures and dangers and Candide’s personal motto of “everything in the world is for the best”, taught to him by his beloved mentor, becomes questionable by characters and readers alike.Voltaire’s style is often called absurd satire due to both the humor and the exaggeration that he inserts into the story. There has been so much written about this literary masterpiece that I won’t even begin to try to explain or analyze it in my meagre words, but, I can say that I was both surprised and delighted with this book. I read this in the form of installations and I looked forward to receiving a new section and learning what would happen next. The author missed no opportunity to skewer the religion, politics, morals and lifestyles of his time, and he put his characters into the most outrageous and outlandish situations that you really never knew what could possibly happen next.Candide is entirely accessible and highly readable. Voltaire gives his readers the gift of laughter, both at life in general and the people it contains. This “road-trip” book is short, entertaining and downright brilliant.

[varwenea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Without context, this book reads like a series of unfortunate events. (Hey – that’s another book! Haw haw.) With context, this brilliant little book is a biting satire where Voltaire spared no opportunity to poke fun at every thought and event that he found wrong with society in the 1700’s. Voltaire challenged the idea endemic in his days, that ‘all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’. Back of book: “It was the indifferent shrug and callous inertia that this ‘optimism’ concealed which so angered Voltaire, who found the ‘all for the best’ approach a patently inadequate response to suffering, to natural disasters – such as a the recent earthquakes in Lima and Lisbon – not to mention the questions of illness and man-made war.” Voltaire was 64 years old when he wrote Candide in 1758. He was internationally recognized as a satiric genius, which also meant the government is none too pleased with him, resulting in two stays in the Bastille, flogging, and exile. Fun stuff for being a genius – yikes!In the book, Voltaire takes us through a journey of pain and suffering, coping and recovering, or simply death in many cases. Murder, rape, butchering, imprisonment, forcibly drafted into army, beatings, hanging, earthquake, drowning, slavery, prostitution, cannibalism, swindles, dethroned kings, living with false smiles, forced into priesthood, and much more. At times, Candide pauses and wonders if ‘All is for the best’ is a logical view. I can’t decide if I would characterize Candide as being naïve in addition to being kind. The latter he definitely is, never hesitating to share his fortunes, however few it may be at times. For the sake of completeness, I will slap him once, for his callousness when he no longer wished to marry Cunegonde because she has become ugly. :P The ending, its simplicity, is satisfying. It mirrors quite a bit to life – less talking, more doing – something I find myself saying too.Having seen Candide, the operetta, and by chance, was at the New York Public Library (Main) when they had a special exhibit of Voltaire’s original manuscripts, I wonder what took me so long to pick up the book. As an aside, the earthquake of Lisbon is readily the event that altered the course of the country’s history, ending its naval powers, sending its monarchy to the mountains (literally), and left the country behind its neighbors throughout history. Its downtown, wharf area is still sparse to this day. It’s pretty amazing that Voltaire saw through the B.S. then. Quotes – illustrating the powers of Voltaire’s words – witty, sharp, dripping with sarcasm, dipped with duality:Re: Sex – The ‘innocent’ Cunegonde seeing the action. The roundabout verbiage is immensely hilarious.“One day Cunegonde was walking near the house in a little coppice, called ‘the park’, when she saw Dr. Pangloss behind some bushes giving a lesson in experimental physics to her mother’s waiting-woman, a pretty little brunette who seems eminently teachable. Since Lady Cunegonde took a great interest in science, she watched the experiments being repeated with breathless fascination. She saw clearly the Doctor’s ‘sufficient reason’, and took note of cause and effect. Then, in a disturbed and thoughtful state of mind, she returned home filled with a desire for learning, and fancied that she could reason equally well with young Candide and he with her.” Re: Man-Made War – Eloquently compared to hell, and note the last two words– ‘heroic butchery’, Chapter 3.“Those who have never seen two well-trained armies drawn up for battle, can have no idea of the beauty and brilliance of the display. Bugles, fifes, oboes, drums, and salvoes of artillery produced such a harmony as Hell itself could not rival. The opening barrage destroyed about six thousand men on each side. Rifle-fire which followed rid this best of worlds of about nine or ten thousand villains who infested its surface. Finally, the bayonet provided ‘sufficient reason’ for the death of several thousand more. The total casualties amounted to about thirty thousand. Candide trembled like a philosopher, and hid himself as best he could during this heroic butchery .“Re: The Atrocities and Brutality of War – Voltaire painted this searing image of a ravished village, Chapter 3.“It was now no more than a smoking ruin, for the Bulgars had burned it to the ground in accordance with the terms of international law. Old men, crippled with wounds, watched helplessly the deaththroes of their butchered women-folk, who still clasped their children to their bloodstained breasts. Girls who had satisfied the appetites of several heroes lay disemboweled in their last agonies. Others, whose bodies were badly scorched, begged to be put out of their misery. Whichever way he looked, the ground was strewn with the legs, arms, and brains of dead villagers.”Re: Disease and its genealogy, with bonus humor on chocolate. Following the passage on the genealogy of Pangloss’ syphilis/pox (which is entertaining too), I found this even more amusing. How the times have changed that a disease can travel the world, as did the bird flu so much faster these days than in the 1700’s, Chapter 4: “For if Columbus, when visiting the West Indies, had not caught this disease, which poisons the source of generation, which frequently even hinders generation, and is clearly opposed to the great end of Nature, we should have neither chocolate nor cochineal. We see, too, that to this very day the disease, like religious controversy, is peculiar to us Europeans. The Turks, the Indians, the Persians, the Chinese, the Siamese, the Japanese as yet have no knowledge of it; but there is a ‘sufficient reason’ for their experiencing it in turn in the course of a few centuries.” If only Voltaire knows about the Catholic Priests’ sex scandals today(!), Chapter 11.“I am the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina.*”“*Notice how exceedingly discreet our author is. There has so far been no Pope called Urban X. He hesitates to ascribe a bastard to an actual Pope. What discretion! What a tender conscience he shows! [Voltaire’s note.]” Suicide vs. Living – such a painful choice sometimes, Chapter 12:“I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our most melancholy propensities; for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one’s very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?” Candide breaks in Chapter 19, upon hearing the negro’s story of this life with chopped off hand and chopped off leg:“What is Optimism?”“It’s the passion for maintaining that all is right when all goes wrong with us.”No peace for men, from Martin, the pessimist, Chapter 20“A million regimented assassins surge from one end of Europe to the other, earning their living by committing murder and brigandage in strictest discipline, because they have no more honest livelihood; and in those towns which seem to enjoy the blessings of peace and where the arts flourish, men suffer more from envy, cares, and anxiety than a besieged town suffers from the scourges of war, for secret vexations are much more cruel than public miseries. “ Re: Men’s Character – Candide vs. Martin, the pessimist, Chapter 21“Do you think that men have always massacred each other, as they do today, that they have always been false, cozening, faithless, ungrateful, thieving, weak, inconstant, mean-spirited, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloody, slanderous, debauched, fanatic, hypocritical, and stupid?”“Do you think that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they could find them?”“Of course I do.”“Well, if hawks have always had the same character, why should you suppose that men have changed theirs?”Re: Money doesn’t buy happiness, Chapter 25“You must admit that there is the happiest man alive, because he is superior to all he possesses.”“ Don’t you see that he is disgusted with everything he possesses? Plato long ago said that the best stomachs are not those that reject all food.”

[salonniere · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I promised myself to read as many of the classics as possible and give works of that category a special preference, Candide waited at the top of my list. Short in length but not laughs, this book served as probably my clearest introduction to satire, and who better to lead the way into the genre than Voltaire himself? Trapped in a critique of unbridled optimism, the characters suffer one tragedy or cruelty after another - and yet, though powerful in delivering the point, somehow through all the misery the tale still abounds with moments of hilarity. Timeless questions of the human experience parade throughout the story, disguised under layers of sarcasm and wit. Readers may feel shocked one moment, but need only turn a few pages to laugh out loud. As a quick, entertaining, yet covertly heavy read, the piece makes a great entry point to the work of satirists - or just a masterful diversion into "the best of all possible worlds," depending on your perspective.

[hovercraftofeels · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick up Candide and after finishing the book, I'm definitely upset with my younger self. This is Voltaire at his cattiest and it makes for great reading. He spares no one in his attacks against religion, philosophy, society, and romance. Candide is the protagonist, although readers will find he feels more like a whipping boy. He is painfully naïve and has been indoctrinated by his philosophy teacher Pangloss to believe everything happens to a man for the sole purpose of transporting him to a better situation. Naturally, Voltaire plays with the Leibnizian philosophy by putting Candide into extremely horrible situations and showing the character to have no belief other than things must keep happening so that an even better situation will befall him. Voltaire also shows his readers the hypocrisies of religion and the ironies of claiming to love someone whom you do not truly know. This is a quick read mainly because it is so fast paced and entertaining. Through word play and excessive gore, it's nearly impossible to set down the book. My only complaint with Candide is the simplicity of its content, but when one considers this as it was originally intended, as a barebones and intelligent satire, it's not exactly fair to expect better chapter transitions or less abrupt scene changes. Voltaire has succeeded in producing a rhetorical monster applicable to any age which also functions as an engaging novel.

[alcracka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dizzying! Voltaire moves fast. Now Candide's in El Dorado in Paraguay...three pages later he's in Venice. I have the impression Voltaire gets bored easily.

And I don't think it would hurt to read this twice: once with all the footnotes and once without. They're important; this is one of those books that references a ton of other crap, so you're better off learning about it. But they slow the story down, of course; my guess is that I spent about as much time reading footnotes as I did reading the story itself. And that's particularly damaging with this book, because (as I said) it's a breakneck story.

I started to re-read it on the spot, but that was too soon. I got bored. Maybe in a few months.

Anyway...yeah, man. I really liked this. I thought it was super awesome dope.

[karl6steel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My fourth time reading it?

Teaching it this week (for the 3rd time).

For plot summaries, see reviews below.

Does Candide falter? Yes: Voltaire turns his attention to the literary scene in Paris for 5-7 pages (which means: 5-7% of the book). We can laugh at Voltaire inserting himself and his fellow writers into the book, but given the grand scope of the rest of the narrative, the insertion looks, and is, self-indulgent. Probably the clearest sign of the failure of those scenes is that they are by far the most difficult to teach.

One wonders, however, about a philosophical novel written by a professional philosopher that ultimately destroys the legitimacy of doing philosophy, and one wonders--I wonder--about the novel's final, pessimistic promotion of political quietism. For those of you who think that 'tending one's garden' means a happy ending, remember what happens to the Baron and his family at the book's beginning....

Oh, this edition is quite nice: a great deal of supplemental material saves on photocopying when you teach it. Recommended above the Dover edition or the regular Penguin edition...

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tragedy and comedy presented in sharp contrast satirising the optimism of certain philosophies.

[cecrow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A complete and utter failure! Voltaire presents us with the premise that this is the best of all possible worlds, but only evil befalls his poor characters: scandal, conscription, rape, murder, pillage, mutilation, disease, disaster, inquisition, genocide, adultery, slavery, shipwreck, kicks in the backside, you name it. What the author was thinking of, I can scarcely imagine. I'm going back to my garden now.

[stef7sa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Still funny, this sarcastic, cynical tale about the innocent young man learning about the ways of the world the hard way. "Why then was the world created?" " To drive us mad!"

[dandelionroots · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In a constant barrage of hilarious, yet fairly accurate to history horror show: another war between the french and the english, the Lisbon earthquake and the inquisition's response to it, colonialism; Candide barely survives "this best of all possible worlds" according to his philosophy professor and a popular doctrine of the time period proposed by Leibniz (the argument not being that this world is free of evil, but given our species, it's the best we can achieve - for if we were capable of optimizing our world in any facet, God would have created that one instead). His experiences teach him that humanity is shit overall:"Do you believe that men have always slaughtered each other as they do today, that they've always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates and thieves, weak, fickle, cowardly, envious, greedy, drunken, miserly, ambitious, bloodthirsty, slanderous, lecherous, fanatical, hypocritical and foolish?Do you believe that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they find them?"But in too small doses it does redeem itself individually. He ends with hope."Man cannot obliterate the cruelty of the universe, but by prudence he can shield certain small confines from that cruelty." Cultivate your garden!Pretty keen on Voltaire now.

[omgully · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book. However, the Bantam Classic edition is only an ok translation. I got my copy for cheap. It tells the story but I'm sure there are other more scholarly translations I would choose if I were to read it again.

[erickibler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Voltaire obviously took a dim view of the value of human life.

The story follows the globe-trotting misadventures of a naive commoner, Candide, and his quest to marry the beautiful Cunegunde, who is the daughter of a Baron. His compatriots include the philosophers Pangloss ("We live in the best of all possible worlds! Everything is for the good!") and Martin ("Everybody is miserable and always will be"), the faithful sidekick, Cacambo, and the one-buttocked old woman (How did she lose a buttock? Read the book!) .

The characters endure the worst suffering the world has to offer: war, the Inquisition, people being mutilated, eaten, burned alive, hanged, sold into prostitution and galley slavery, con men, thieves, you name it. Yet somehow they convince themselves that life is worth living. Candide at one point finds himself in the mythical South American paradise El Dorado, yet leaves because he is troubled by dissatisfaction. He feels, in order to be happy, the need to lord his newfound wealth over others less fortunate.

The characters end the story on a farm, seeking a moderate contentment through hard work which keeps them from thinking overmuch about their condition. Reading this book makes me feel pretty good, actually. As pessimistic as I sometimes am, I find much more satisfaction in life than Voltaire seems to.

[la2bkk · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For good reason, Candide is considered one of the true "must reads." Centuries after its writing, the book remains current not only in its concise, easy reading style, but also in its message about human nature. An all time favorite.

[benjamin.duffy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think that Candide is probably the type of book that enriches the reader the deeper he or she delves into it. It would probably reward repeated readings. It would probably reveal deeper layers of satire and absurdity if it were read in the original French. It would probably take on deeper shades of meaning if it were read in conjunction with any of the commentaries that have been written about it over the past 250-odd years.

Having said that, I'm not going to do any of those things. I have way too many books on my plate to reread this book any time in the next year; the limits of my French (one year of college French, an ex-wife who was fluent) would make reading it in that language a brutal, dictionary-in-hand chore; and I generally dislike reading books about books, so commentaries are right out.

So, I didn't dig too deeply into Candide, instead just reading it as the absurd tale it was, not looking for too much meaning beyond the surface. And you know what? I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was like Forrest Gump, only with a little less faith in humanity and a lot more murder, rape, cannibalism, zoophilia, and child prostitution. It was full of pitch-black humor, and the breezy, matter-of-fact way in which some of the horrific situations were described only served to make it funnier.

Unsurprisingly, this was a super dark book, and an angry one, full of scathing satire. It served up a double middle finger salute to pretty much everyone: nobility, clergy, self-styled intellectuals, real intellectuals, commoners, the French, the Germans, the English - nobody escapes Voltaire's poison pen. Virtually everyone is portrayed as stupid, dishonest, self-serving, small-minded, and hypocritical. Religion and government receive the brunt of Voltaire's onslaught; it isn't hard to see why this book was banned in so many places for so many years - even well into the 20th century in parts of the United States.

This was a fast, hilarious, exhilaratingly bitter read, and just the thing to top off your misanthropy tank if it's ever running low. Fine family fun!

[elosoblanco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was not at all what I thought it would be. The read was interesting, and heavy on the satire. The theme is easily understood and carried throughout the work, and it's a relatively quick read. Read this if you have a couple of hours to spare.

[enosis-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was pleasantly surprised with how a book that was first published in 1759 can still be relevant and enjoyable.

Candide is Voltaire's answer to the philosophy of Optimism, which was founded by Leibniz. Optimism says that all is for the best because God is a benevolent deity, or "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds".

In this very short, concise, and fast paced story, we follow the adventures of Candide who spent his life living in a sheltered and luxurious environment. During that period, his mentor Pangloss indoctrinated him with Leibnizian Optimism. When Candide leaves his home, he is slowly and painfully disillusioned as he witnesses and experiences great hardships around the world.

Voltaire takes us from place to place in a rapid succession, putting Candide in all sorts of extraordinary situations, using caustic humour, satire and sarcasm to ridicule religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies and philosophers. His obvious target is Optimism, where in order to argue his point he uses many devices such as describing a devastating earthquake "as one of the most horrible disasters 'in the best of all possible worlds'".

Although Optimism might seem outdated or not that much relevant today, its core message is what most religions are about. They (religions) maintain that our world is indeed perfect, since it was created by an infallible supreme being. Therefore, everything happens according to god's plan and intentions, or "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". I know, it sounds ridiculous, because it is, but here we are 250 years after the book was written and the things that Voltaire ridiculed haven't changed a bit!

Tip: pay attention to the names of the characters early on in the book, as the fast pace of the story makes it easy to lose track of who is who.

TL;DR "Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté." [Wikipedia]. What's not to like? :)

[miguelnunonave · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Historically interesting satire against the set of France's enlightenment period. Main character is just what it says - candid. Great if you love philosophy.

[figre · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading older classics is always an interesting proposition. You have the challenge of translation. You have the challenge of societal changes. And you have the challenge of a different human condition. However, when a classic is truly a “classic”, you also have a work’s ability to transcend those issues with a tale that is, at its core, about human beings – human beings we can relate to no matter what ancient trappings they live in.Candide pulls this off. Yes, a lot of the references are old. And we can’t completely empathize with such struggles as the Spanish Inquisition or long sea voyages or debates among Socinians and Manichaeans and other Christian sects. But we can understand the inner turmoil of someone struggling to understand why bad things happen to “good” people.And, again in spite of the impact time has had on the relevance of some of the material, the satire is still spot on. Sure we don’t have royalty and landed gentry. But it is very easy to translate these into today’s politicians and businessmen.No, it is not a perfect book. Time has had too much time to make its changes. But it still has relevance. And it has relevance without being preachy. In other words, still a lot of fun to read.

[robrod1_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is a rather depressing book, but it is interesting, and it will raise a multitude of questions in your head.

[ifionlyhada · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a humorous ride. I really enjoyed this classic. Candide learns many lessons of Loyalty, Love, Trust and Money. It is so well written, it was fun to read.

[duffdaddy-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Baron's lady weighed about three hundred and fifty pounds, and was therefore a person of great consideration.One day when Cunegonde was walking near the castle, in a little wood which was called the Park, she observed Doctor Pangloss in the bushes, giving a lesson in experimental physics to her mother's waiting-maid, a very pretty and docile brunette. Mademoiselle Cunegonde had a great inclination for science and watched breathlessly the reiterated experiments she witnessed; she observed clearly the Doctor's sufficient reason, the effects and the causes, and returned home very much excited, pensive, filled with the desire of learning, reflecting that she might be the sufficient reason of young Candide and he might be hers.Candide that he was a young metaphysician, extremely ignorant of the things of this world...Candide, who trembled like a philosopher, hid himself as well as he could during this heroic butchery.Pangloss made answer in these terms: "Oh, my dear Candide, you remember Paquette, that pretty wench who waited on our noble Baroness; in her arms I tasted the delights of paradise, which produced in me those hell torments with which you see me devoured; she was infected with them, she is perhaps dead of them. This present Paquette received of a learned Grey Friar, who had traced it to its source; he had had it of an old countess, who had received it from a cavalry captain, who owed it to a marchioness, who took it from a page, who had received it from a Jesuit, who when a novice had it in a direct line from one of the companions of Christopher Columbus. For my part I shall give it to nobody, I am dying."Our men defended themselves like the Pope's soldiers; they flung themselves upon their knees, and threw down their arms,"Oh! what a superior man," said Candide below his breath. "What a great genius is this Pococurante! Nothing can please him." "But is there not a pleasure," said Candide,[Pg 141] "in criticising everything, in pointing out faults where others see nothing but beauties?" "That is to say," replied Martin, "that there is some pleasure in having no pleasure."Instantly Candide sent for a Jew, to whom he sold for fifty thousand sequins a diamond worth a hundred thousand, though the fellow swore to him by Abraham that he could give him no more."I know also," said Candide, "that we must cultivate our garden." "You are right," said Pangloss, "for when man was first placed in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ut operaretur eum, that he might cultivate it; which shows that man was not born to be idle." "Let us work," said Martin, "without disputing; it is the only way to render life tolerable."

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Witty, easy to read, satirical, interesting. I shall have to dig more into context and such, to understand it fully, but I enjoyed it very much even without that. It's genuinely funny in itself, too, which is probably why it survives so well, even though satire is usually very much of its moment.