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Candide
This volume, which takes account of the latest scholarship, consists of an introduction to Voltaire and to Candide , the French text and textual notes, and a short bibliography.
- GenresFiction
384 pages, Hardcover
First published February 19, 1995
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About the author
Voltaire
9,429 books4,945 followersComplete works (1880) : https://archive.org/details/oeuvresco...
In 1694, Age of Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. Jesuit-educated, he began writing clever verses by the age of 12. He launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille. Upon a second imprisonment, in which Francois adopted the pen name Voltaire, he was released after agreeing to move to London. There he wrote Lettres philosophiques (1733), which galvanized French reform. The book also satirized the religious teachings of Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, including Pascal's famed "wager" on God. Voltaire wrote: "The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing." Voltaire's French publisher was sent to the Bastille and Voltaire had to escape from Paris again, as judges sentenced the book to be "torn and burned in the Palace." Voltaire spent a calm 16 years with his deistic mistress, Madame du Chatelet, in Lorraine. He met the 27 year old married mother when he was 39. In his memoirs, he wrote: "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did, and decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." He dedicated Traite de metaphysique to her. In it the Deist candidly rejected immortality and questioned belief in God. It was not published until the 1780s. Voltaire continued writing amusing but meaty philosophical plays and histories. After the earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755, in which 15,000 people perished and another 15,000 were wounded, Voltaire wrote Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster): "But how conceive a God supremely good/ Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,/ Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?"
Voltaire purchased a chateau in Geneva, where, among other works, he wrote Candide (1759). To avoid Calvinist persecution, Voltaire moved across the border to Ferney, where the wealthy writer lived for 18 years until his death. Voltaire began to openly challenge Christianity, calling it "the infamous thing." He wrote Frederick the Great: "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." Voltaire ended every letter to friends with "Ecrasez l'infame" (crush the infamy — the Christian religion). His pamphlet, The Sermon on the Fifty (1762) went after transubstantiation, miracles, biblical contradictions, the Jewish religion, and the Christian God. Voltaire wrote that a true god "surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough," or inspired "books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror." He also published excerpts of Testament of the Abbe Meslier, by an atheist priest, in Holland, which advanced the Enlightenment. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary was published in 1764 without his name. Although the first edition immediately sold out, Geneva officials, followed by Dutch and Parisian, had the books burned. It was published in 1769 as two large volumes. Voltaire campaigned fiercely against civil atrocities in the name of religion, writing pamphlets and commentaries about the barbaric execution of a Huguenot trader, who was first broken at the wheel, then burned at the stake, in 1762. Voltaire's campaign for justice and restitution ended with a posthumous retrial in 1765, during which 40 Parisian judges declared the defendant innocent. Voltaire urgently tried to save the life of Chevalier de la Barre, a 19 year old sentenced to death for blasphemy for failing to remove his hat during a religious procession. In 1766, Chevalier was beheaded after being tortured, then his body was burned, along with a copy of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire's statue at the Pantheon was melted down during Nazi occupation. D. 1778.
Voltaire (1694-1778), pseudónimo de François-
In 1694, Age of Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. Jesuit-educated, he began writing clever verses by the age of 12. He launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille. Upon a second imprisonment, in which Francois adopted the pen name Voltaire, he was released after agreeing to move to London. There he wrote Lettres philosophiques (1733), which galvanized French reform. The book also satirized the religious teachings of Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, including Pascal's famed "wager" on God. Voltaire wrote: "The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing." Voltaire's French publisher was sent to the Bastille and Voltaire had to escape from Paris again, as judges sentenced the book to be "torn and burned in the Palace." Voltaire spent a calm 16 years with his deistic mistress, Madame du Chatelet, in Lorraine. He met the 27 year old married mother when he was 39. In his memoirs, he wrote: "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did, and decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." He dedicated Traite de metaphysique to her. In it the Deist candidly rejected immortality and questioned belief in God. It was not published until the 1780s. Voltaire continued writing amusing but meaty philosophical plays and histories. After the earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755, in which 15,000 people perished and another 15,000 were wounded, Voltaire wrote Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster): "But how conceive a God supremely good/ Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,/ Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?"
Voltaire purchased a chateau in Geneva, where, among other works, he wrote Candide (1759). To avoid Calvinist persecution, Voltaire moved across the border to Ferney, where the wealthy writer lived for 18 years until his death. Voltaire began to openly challenge Christianity, calling it "the infamous thing." He wrote Frederick the Great: "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." Voltaire ended every letter to friends with "Ecrasez l'infame" (crush the infamy — the Christian religion). His pamphlet, The Sermon on the Fifty (1762) went after transubstantiation, miracles, biblical contradictions, the Jewish religion, and the Christian God. Voltaire wrote that a true god "surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough," or inspired "books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror." He also published excerpts of Testament of the Abbe Meslier, by an atheist priest, in Holland, which advanced the Enlightenment. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary was published in 1764 without his name. Although the first edition immediately sold out, Geneva officials, followed by Dutch and Parisian, had the books burned. It was published in 1769 as two large volumes. Voltaire campaigned fiercely against civil atrocities in the name of religion, writing pamphlets and commentaries about the barbaric execution of a Huguenot trader, who was first broken at the wheel, then burned at the stake, in 1762. Voltaire's campaign for justice and restitution ended with a posthumous retrial in 1765, during which 40 Parisian judges declared the defendant innocent. Voltaire urgently tried to save the life of Chevalier de la Barre, a 19 year old sentenced to death for blasphemy for failing to remove his hat during a religious procession. In 1766, Chevalier was beheaded after being tortured, then his body was burned, along with a copy of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire's statue at the Pantheon was melted down during Nazi occupation. D. 1778.
Voltaire (1694-1778), pseudónimo de François-
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 30, 2024
2,5
Ai que pesadet per favor. Al principi fa gràcia però la idea de l'autor et queda clara, com a molt tard, al segon episodi. No calia allargar-s'hi més. Reconec que en alguns moments, de tant ridícul que era tot, em va fer gràcia. Et sorprenen la quantitat de desgràcies rere desgràcies que no podrien ser més randoms i això és la millor part del llibre.
Dit això, penso que és una mica un fracàs de llibre perquè sí, et demostra el seu punt, però també el contrari (?). Vull dir que, jo anava llegint les desventures del Càndid, que són molt pitjors i molt més constants que les que em puguin passar a mi i el tio s'ho prenia tot de meravella. La seva filosofia del món feia que es prengués els cops de la vida com benediccions. I, de fet, sí que li passaven desgràcies, però també sempre se'n surt de tot. No té res? Li paguen un sopar. Es troba enmig d'una guerra? En fuig. Troba a faltar la cunnegunda? Es retroben. Literalment acaba aconseguint tot el que podria desitjar!
No ho sé, per ser un llibre contra l'optimisme de Leibniz, trobo que és la mar d'optimista.
Ai que pesadet per favor. Al principi fa gràcia però la idea de l'autor et queda clara, com a molt tard, al segon episodi. No calia allargar-s'hi més. Reconec que en alguns moments, de tant ridícul que era tot, em va fer gràcia. Et sorprenen la quantitat de desgràcies rere desgràcies que no podrien ser més randoms i això és la millor part del llibre.
Dit això, penso que és una mica un fracàs de llibre perquè sí, et demostra el seu punt, però també el contrari (?). Vull dir que, jo anava llegint les desventures del Càndid, que són molt pitjors i molt més constants que les que em puguin passar a mi i el tio s'ho prenia tot de meravella. La seva filosofia del món feia que es prengués els cops de la vida com benediccions. I, de fet, sí que li passaven desgràcies, però també sempre se'n surt de tot. No té res? Li paguen un sopar. Es troba enmig d'una guerra? En fuig. Troba a faltar la cunnegunda? Es retroben. Literalment acaba aconseguint tot el que podria desitjar!
No ho sé, per ser un llibre contra l'optimisme de Leibniz, trobo que és la mar d'optimista.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2025
read for french! honestly liked it a lot more than i thought i would but was kinda hard to follow a lot of the time
December 28, 2025
Reading Candide feels like watching a Coen brothers movie made in 1759 - a dark comedy about a simple man who only wants to kiss his beloved, yet ends up stumbling through one improbable misadventure after another, each more terrible than the last, with no meaning, no lesson, no morals. .
A sense of cosmic irony is strong in this one, and I absolutely loved it for its absurdity. Quite remarcable that humans' artistic tools seem to remain the same from 1759 to 2025.
A sense of cosmic irony is strong in this one, and I absolutely loved it for its absurdity. Quite remarcable that humans' artistic tools seem to remain the same from 1759 to 2025.
April 21, 2025
Qui hauria dit que m'ho passaria tan bé amb un llibre del 1759. Conclusió molt encertada, així com el tema de fer anar el pobre Càndid amunt i avall per ser l'excusa del safareig intercontinental de l'època... recursos!
February 3, 2011
I had forgotten how funny this work is! Voltaire cleverly shrouds his criticisms of philosophy and religion in the simple story of a world-tripping young man and his various comrades as he debunks the Rousseauist idea that this is the "best of all possible worlds."
February 22, 2012
Qui ne peut pas aimer Candide? Who can't love Candide?
September 26, 2013
Far funnier (and shorter) than I remembered it--Candide will go on my list of things worth picking up and re-reading every couple of years.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews