DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA: Volume II (first published in the year 1615)

By Miguel de Cervantes

In a 2002 survey, of the world’s leading writers (including Doris Lessing, Salman Rushdie, Nadine Gordimer, Wole Soyinka, Seamus Heaney, Carlos Fuentes and Norman Mailer), representing nearly every continent, selected Don Quixote as “the most meaningful book of all time”. Nigerian-born Ben Okri said, “If there is one

• Language: English
• Publisher: Well Read Edition
• Release date: Jan 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781944556181

Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) was a Spanish writer whose work included plays, poetry, short stories, and novels. Although much of the details of his life are a mystery, his experiences as both a soldier and as a slave in captivity are well documented; these events served as subject matter for his best-known work, Don Quixote (1605) as well as many of his short stories. Although Cervantes reached a degree of literary fame during his lifetime, he never became financially prosperous; yet his work is considered among the most influential in the development of world literature.

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CANDIDE

by

Voltaire

Copyright © 2016 by Édition Delince Incorporated. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright.

Published in the United States by Édition Delince Incorporated, Miami Florida USA. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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Why Does Voltaire’s Candide Endure?

Voltaire’s masterpiece of satire was written between July and December 1758 and published simultaneously in Geneva, Paris and Amsterdam in January 1759. The events in the book unlike most works of fiction are astutely based on the current state of Voltaire’s contemporary world and culled from the headlines of his day. No major power center was omitted. Arbiters of social status, sex/love, money, war and religion were all lambasted within the pages of Candide.

Voltaire’s satire of religion inevitably took the spotlight (in his time), his analysis of the other powers that control the world – money, rank, violence and sex – still applies. These are among the reasons Candide remains pertinent as ever. All of the players in the world of money, social rank, violence and sex are still alive and well. Like Candide we are all born innocent and quickly realize as we mature realize that the world is not brimming with some form of pre-ordained harmony.

Candide and his companions observe a negro stretched out on the ground with only one half of his habit, which was a pair of blue cotton drawers; for the poor man had lost his left leg, and his right hand. They asked what happed: When we labour in the sugar-works, the man replies, and the mill happens to snatch hold of a finger, they instantly chop off our hand; and when we attempt to run away, they chop off a leg. Both these cases have happened to me, and it is at this expense that you eat sugar in Europe. Imagine the plight of workers in the developing world and the harsh repercussions for failure to produce finished work within the allotted time.

The characters in Candide are intentionally flat, rather like the people in a TV sitcom. Martin can only be hopeless and cynical, the opposite of Pangloss, and Pococurante can only be bored or jaded. Mayhem and violence are also ever present with the book. However, in their volume and frequency they tend to desensitize the reader. Again, think of the violence in comic strips or cartoons. Unlike cartoons however the shocking events in Candide are historically ‘real.’ The Lisbon earthquake did occur for example in 1755 and killed over 30,000 people. The Spanish Inquisition did kill countless non-Christians. Candide’s exploration of post colonial slavery in Surinam still exists to this day throughout the Atlantic and Pacific worlds.

Voltaire weaves these characters and their situations in order to illustrate ideas and to prove a philosophical point. Names that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds is simply not true. And if I laugh at any mortal thing, ‘Tis that I may not weep said Lord Byron and the same holds true of Candide. Readers experience rapid-fire, alternating states of laughter and outrage within the book.

Cover art design by the Atelier at Delince Group in Miami, Florida US.

Table of Contents

I.

How Candide was brought up in a Magnificent Castle, and how he was expelled thence

II.

What became of Candide among the Bulgarians

III.

How Candide made his escape from the Bulgarians, and what afterwards became of him

IV.

How Candide found his old Master Pangloss, and what happened to them

V.

Tempest, Shipwreck, Earthquake, and

what became of Doctor Pangloss, Candide, and James the Anabaptist

VI.

How the Portuguese made a Beautiful Auto-da-fé, to prevent any further Earthquakes: and how Candide was publicly whipped

VII.

How the Old Woman took care of Candide, and how he found the Object he loved

VIII.

The History of Cunegonde

IX.

What became of Cunegonde, Candide, the Grand Inquisitor, and the Jew

X.

In what distress Candide, Cunegonde, and the Old Woman arrived at Cadiz; and of their Embarkation

XI.

History of the Old Woman

XII.

The Adventures of the Old Woman continued

XIII.

How Candide was forced away from his fair Cunegonde and the Old Woman

XIV.

How Candide and Cacambo were received by the Jesuits of Paraguay

XV.

How Candide killed the brother of his dear Cunegonde

XVI.

Adventures of the Two Travellers, with Two Girls, Two Monkeys, and the Savages called Oreillons

XVII.

Arrival of Candide and his Valet at El Dorado, and what they saw there

XVIII.

What they saw in the Country of El Dorado

XIX.

What happened to them at Surinam and how Candide got acquainted with Martin

XX.

What happened at Sea to Candide and Martin

XXI.

Candide and Martin, reasoning, draw near the Coast of France

XXII.

What happened in France to Candide and Martin

XXIII.

Candide and Martin touched upon the Coast of England, and what they saw there

XXIV.

Of Paquette and Friar Giroflée

XXV.

The Visit to Lord Pococurante, a Noble Venetian took with Six Strangers, and who they were

XXVII.

Candide’s Voyage to Constantinople

XXVIII.

What happened to Candide, Cunegonde, Pangloss, Martin, etc.

XXIX.

How Candide found Cunegonde and the Old Woman again

XXX.

The Conclusion

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 him innocently by the hand, the youth as innocently kissed the young lady’s hand with particular vivacity, sensibility, and grace; their lips met, their eyes sparkled, their knees trembled, their hands strayed. Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh passed near the screen and beholding this cause and effect chased Candide from the castle with great kicks on the backside; Cunegonde fainted away; she was boxed on the ears by the Baroness, as soon as she came to herself; and all was consternation in this most magnificent and most agreeable of all possible castles.

II. WHAT BECAME OF CANDIDE AMONG THE BULGARIANS.