Candide and other tales

by Voltaire

Candide is the most famous of Voltaire's "philosophical tales," in which he combined witty improbabilities with the sanest of good sense. First published in 1759, it was an instant bestseller and has come to be regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. What Candide does for chivalric romance, the other tales in this selection--Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull--do for science fiction, the Oriental tale, the sentimental novel, and the Old Testament. The most extensive one-volume selection currently available, this new edition includes a new verse translation of the story Voltaire based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale: What Pleases the Ladies and opens with a revised introduction that reflects recent critical debates, including a new section on Candide.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Philosophy, France, Short Stories, Literature, French Literature

389 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1759

About the author

Complete 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-

Reviews

[Tony Vacation · Rating 4 out of 5]

After dismissing Candide as something probably dumb for the better part of twelve years, I decided to finally read Voltaire’s most famous work, thanks to the prodding of fellow GR-er Nathan “N.R.” Gaddis , who in turn gets all his best ideas from Steven Moore, such as choosing this English translation as opposed to all the others. In any case, I’m happy to report that Roger Pearson’s translation of Candide is the cat’s pyjamas. Never has rape, mutilation, murder, amputations, public burnings and cannibalism been as funny as this! Voltaire’s masterpiece is a piss-take on optimism (as a branch of philosophy, but it still works outside of that context) dressed-up as a picaresque bildungsroman, staring Candide, the haplessly naïve misfortunate who is jostled ceaselessly about by political carnage, religious cruelty and natural disasters, as he tries to reunite with the love his life. Weighing in at under a hundred pages, this novella is a satirical gem of 18th century Enlightened Literature.

The other pieces packed into this collection are fun philosophical tales, but none are as rambunctiously readable as the aforementioned star of the show. “Micromegas” uses the Rabelaisian comedic device of giants to make a brief report regarding an interplanetary visit to Earth from a pair of ginormous-as-fuck scholars and the debate on the silliness of metaphysics that followed.”Zandig” offers some Oriental spice with another coming-of-age story about its titular hero making a journey from humble beginnings to kingly rewards, all the while maintaining his unerring rationalism and morality. “The Ingenu” is yet another coming-of-age story, but this time in the classic Babe: Pig in the City mode. A brave no-nonsense Indian (don’t worry, it is quickly revealed that he is a full-blooded European orphan, phew!) is shipped over to France and becomes involved in a hand-wringing romantic potboiler that offers Voltaire ample opportunity to make a farce of empty-headed religious mores as well as makes use of his title character as a model for what our author saw as the ideal education, one that eschews stale philosophies, decrepit theologies, and all the other hang-ups any given society is bound to try and stuff down our individual/collective throats.

The rest of the collection tackles the power of tale-telling with “The White Bull” and “What Pleases the Lady”. The former is an absurdist blending of biblical parables and “heathen” fantasies that celebrates the power of telling tales; the latter—in a mind-blowing display of translation as a game of telephone (this is a translation of a translation that is turn being translated into English)—is a re-telling of Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” that stays chastely faithful to its source material with only a few additions of some naughty verse and a friendly denouement about why we need to keep telling each other stories, damnit!

Don't know if I'll get around to reading more Voltaire, but this collection makes for a nice introduction to the man and his philosophic tales that encapsulate his life-long belief in rationality and self-improvement on one's own terms.

[Lesle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised, Candide is a short novel, but is jammed packed with adventures and devastation.
The philosophy that was instilled on Candide (who is down to earth) is “All things happen for good” and “There is no effect without a cause.” He joins the Bulgarian Army and from there life takes good (from kindness) and bad (torturous) turns for him.

After his life is saved yet again he is brought back to his true love and performs a double murder. He takes the two women to the New World in hopes of a new life. Where life serves him the same plate as before. He decides to return to Venice and life again serves up a horrendous amount of 'Not again!' and 'This guy never catches a break!' Finally in the end he buys his true love, ugly and beaten, and the old women. He purchases a Turkish farm and they all live there as a family.

The satire on relationships, money, religion and the evilness of people is what the story is about. One would think a 'religious person' would always live a spiritual and sacred life, not. One raised 'affluent' would always live that life and never be treated as a slave. You are led to believe characters are killed, but come back later, unexpectedly.

My conclusion from the read is “The experiences in life whether good or bad are what makes us a well rounded soul.”

[Alfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard the name Voltaire earlier in my life, but it was only after reading The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History that I learned more concretely about who he was, what he did, and how influential his writing has been. Today, it seems that apart from Candide, very few of his works are widely read and I think that’s a shame. I thoroughly enjoyed Micromegas (see my review of that here) which was the first of his works I read. Rather than attempt to review this short collection as a whole, I’ll go through each of the four works individually.


Zadig

I found this to be a fun, fairly light satire in which the titular character, Zadig, endures highs and lows on his travels in pursuit of love (a pursuit that shifts between women multiple times throughout the novella).

I especially enjoyed the scene in which Zadig rescues a woman being assaulted, duels and kills her attacker only to find he was her husband. She immediately berates him, only to plead for his protection again when the authorities arrive. It’s absurdity brilliantly undercuts Zadig’s noble intentions.

What struck me most was how Zadig’s sense of morality evolves depending on circumstance. The story flirts with ideas of fate and predestination, which made me reflect on some of the books I’ve read on biological determinism. Voltaire was clearly poking fun at rigid moral systems and suggesting that morality often shifts with fortune.

Overall, I found this to be a witty, thought-provoking tale.

4.5 out of 5



Candide

Ah yes, Voltaire’s masterpiece. This was an absolute delight to read! There are so many quotable passages, but I’ll resist spoiling them in case anyone reading this is persuaded to pick it up.

Poor Candide, trying to navigate “the best of all possible worlds” amid calamity after calamity. The satire on Leibniz’s optimism is pretty savage at times, but Voltaire balances the brutality with sharp humour so that it never sinks into despair.

I found it amusing how many supposedly dead characters reappear alive. I felt particular pity for Pangloss, whose unwavering faith in optimism blinded him to reality. Candide, by contrast, learns that one must sometimes act to create good rather than assume all that happens is good.

The El Dorado interlude was fascinating. By Voltaire’s time, Europeans strongly suspected the city was a myth, so he’s already playing with satire here. I enjoyed how he contrasted an unreachable utopia with the harshness of reality.

I can see why this is regarded as Voltaire’s greatest work. It is a biting yet entertaining dismantling of Leibniz’s optimism.

5 out of 5



L’Ingénu

This one took a darker turn. It is slower paced and, in some respects, treads similar ground to Zadig and Candide but with less comic bite. Here Voltaire aims his satire squarely at religion and the absurdities of clerical authority.

I found myself less engaged with this than the previous two, largely because the central conflicts around marriage customs, the Church, and religious dogma felt less relevant in todays highly secular world (at least in the West).

The ending, too, is brutal. I guess it shows how individuals can be crushed by the machinery of Church and State.

Still worthwhile, but not as compelling as the earlier tales.

3.5 out of 5



Nanine

This play is loosely inspired by Samuel Richardson’s Pamela. The introduction to this collection gave some useful context for this play: Voltaire admired Richardson’s moral seriousness but often thought English novels too prudish, so here he adapts the theme with his own satirical touch.

Reading plays is always an unusual experience for me as I think you get the best feel for them when they are performed. I’d love to see Nanine staged. On the page, I enjoyed the familiar conventions: the scheming stepmother, the innocent maiden, and the resolution in which virtue is rewarded. Yet, as with much of Voltaire, it’s never quite so simple, and he undermines the tropes even as he uses them.

The happy ending was a pleasant note to close both the play and this collection.

4 out of 5



Appendices

These were interesting, if slight: fragments from Zadig, a poem on the Lisbon Earthquake, and a sequel to Candide by another author. Nothing to write home about.



Final Thoughts

This collection was a lively way to get a better sense of Voltaire beyond Candide. Even where the stories felt a little archaic, the endnotes clarified things and made the texts much more accessible.

I’d like to explore more of Voltaire’s plays, many of which I understand are still performed in France. Sadly, without French I’ll miss some of the nuances, but translations will have to do.

On the whole, this was an enjoyable and enlightening read, and it illuminated for me why Voltaire was one of the Enlightenment’s sharpest pens.

4.5 out of 5

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having already read Candide, Zadig and Micromegas, I skipped to the following:

What pleases the ladies - a poem about a knight making a trip to Rome, makes a detour to Paris where a does harm to a pretty shop-girl's eggs and virtue so is brought before the queen; he is sentenced to hang unless he can gain pardon by finding "what pleases all the fair".

"Whate’er her qualities may be,
Desires to bear both night and day
O’er all about her sovereign sway:
Woman would always fain command,
If I lie, hang me out of hand." (3 stars)

The Ingénu - a ship of English merchants are come to France to trade bringing Ingenu, who was born of French parents (but he does not know that until his aunt and uncle recognize him) but raised as Huron Native American. As he tries to integrate into French society satirizes religious doctrine, as well as the folly and injustices of French society (2 stars)

The white bull - a satirical romance in which princess Amasidia, daughter of Amasis, King of Tanis in Egypt (2 stars)

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Largely a critique of Leibnitz's 18C optimism, ours the "best of all possible worlds," Candide the character brings earnest sincerity to his explorations. They range from his teacher Pangloss's etiology of syphillis: Paquette from an erudite Franciscan, who had it from an elderly countess, who had it from a Capt. of cavalry...all the way back to a Jesuit, who during his novitiate had it from a companion of Columbus. Candide says, This is from the devil! Which Pangloss, a student of Leibnitz, denies, "If Columbus had not caught, on an American island, this sickness--we should have had neither chocolate nor cochineal [purple dye]" (end of Ch.4).
Candide to himself, "If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?" (end of Ch.6, and throughout).
Voltaire's irony here depends upon a regenerative circularity: though Candide's love Cunégonde is raped and murdered, she reappears a few chapters later. What also appears is steady anti-semiticism which shocks a modern reader, but should not necessarily consign Voltaire to the trash-heap. (Virtually all my friends since college are Jews, so I defer to their judgement here.)
When Candide kills both Inquisitor and Jew, he laments the loss of his teacher Pangloss, "If he had not been hanged, he would give us good advice in their hour of need..."(Ch.9, start). Instead, they turn to an old woman, whose rescuer informs her, "I am from Naples, where they caponize two or three thousand children every year; some die of it, others acquire a voice more beautiful than any woman's [the opera castrati]"(Ch.12, start).
Cacambo, who rescues them in Paraguay, reflects on cannibalism, "Though we Europeans don't excercise our right to eat our neighbors, the reason is simply that we find it easy to get a good meal elsewhere; but you don't have our resources, and we agree that it's certainly better to eat your enemies than to let the crow and vultures have the fruit of your victory"(Ch.16).
Voltaire concudes this short work with Ch. 30, the reunion of Candide and his mentors Pangloss and Cacombo and the old woman, as well as his mistress Cunégonde (whose father the Baron they send away). Another mentor, the Lutheran Martin, is "firmly persuaded that things are just as bad wherever you go."
Ending in Turkey, they find a man ignorant of the news from Constantinople, who says, "those who meddle in public business sometimes perish miserably, and they deserve their fate." He offers his guests cream sherberts flavored with citron, lime, pistachio, and mocha coffee. Candide assumes he must have enormous, splendid property? No, "twenty acres, which I cultivate with my children, and the work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty."
Candide concludes, "this venerable man seems to have found a fate preferable to the six kings with whom we have dined." Pangloss lists the perils of great place: Absalon was hung up by the hair and pierced with three darts; you know how death came to Croesus, Pyrrhus, Perseus, Hannibal, Jugurtha...Rich II of England, Henry Vi, Richard III, Mary Stuart, Charles I..."
"I know also, said Candide, that we must cultivate our garden."

[See also my review of Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique in French; I cannot find my French Candide just now.]

[John Maberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book while in college, in a Humanities class. It moved and influenced me greatly as it came early on in my quest to come to grips with the disillusionment that my experiences in Vietnam caused me. I found myself identifying with Candide. For those of you old enough to remember Hubert Humphrey, he once referred to the Vietnam War as "our great adventure and a wonderful one it is." I imagined him as a latter day Pangloss. Professor Pangloss had a ready perspective on life in this world--"everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." If God created it, it must be wonderful. Suffering? It must be for the best; how could it be otherwise? Rape, robbery, torture--all for the best. After experiencing all manner of sufferings or viewing the suffering of others, Candide finds it difficult to accept Pangloss's optimism. He hooks up with the pessimist Martin. Eventually, Candide comes to realize that cause and effect in the world does exist. Simple work, rather than idle philosophical speculation--toiling in the garden, will yield the appropriate balance. It presages my own eventual acceptance of the notion of karma--a much more rational explanation of events in one's life, along with a means to make the best of them not by foolishly accepting them in Panglossian terms but taking control of one's own life. If you didn't read it in college, read it now. Voltaire makes contemporary satirists look like Pollyannas.

[Adriane Devries · Rating 3 out of 5]

Candide is perhaps sixteenth-century French philosopher Voltaire’s most memorable work. It is his anthem of a world view that challenges the naïve notion that all of man’s troubled existence is “the best of all possible worlds.” Voltaire moves his protagonist Candide through every conceivable trauma available in his time period: enlistment in the army, beatings, shipwrecking, robbery, torture by the Inquisition, and separation from his beloved Cunégonde, for whom all his sufferings began; exposes humanity’s corruption in government and religion; and shows the futility in the pursuits of philosophy, science, and even romance. Having plumbed the depths of worldy pleasures, fancy philosophies and fantastic quests, Candide ultimately resolves, like the writer of Ecclesiastes, that all is uniformly meaningless, and that we must therefore choose with resourceful intent to “cultivate our garden” amidst the detritus of life. “’Let’s work, then…It is the only way to make life bearable.’” Though pessimistic at its core, Candide was incredibly interesting, and often darkly amusing, as was the author’s intent. Here is a brilliant and satiric mind that lived hundreds of years ago that came to the same conclusion of the millennia: we choose our mindset, and live and die upon it, either in joy or despair.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

At seven stars for Candide, and three stars for the other nearly identical Voltaire works included in this book (Ingenu, White Bull, Zadig and Micromegas), the average neatly comes out to a hearty five stars. I'm not sure if it's just the work of this translator, but the writing and biting sarcasm feels very modern; perhaps Voltaire's antipathy is something people of any age can relate to. The writing easily reaches out through the ages, giving a finger to the modern reader in a sarcastic voice and farcical humor reminiscent of Woody Allen. Can't recommend it highly enough.

[Jesus Velasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cándido y otros cuentos es una colección de seis cuentos del escritor francés Voltaire, publicados en 1759. La colección incluye los cuentos:

-Cándido, o el optimismo
-Memnón
-Micromegas
-Historia de los viajes de Escarmentado
-El hombre de los cuarenta escudos

El cuento más famoso de la colección es Cándido, o el optimismo, una sátira de la filosofía del optimismo, que sostiene que el mundo es el mejor de los mundos posibles. El cuento narra la historia de Cándido, un joven criado en el castillo del barón de Thunder-ten-tronckh, quien es expulsado del castillo después de que su amada, Cunegonda, es violada por el barón. Cándido viaja por el mundo, experimentando toda clase de desgracias, incluyendo la guerra, el hambre y la persecución religiosa. A lo largo de sus viajes, Cándido aprende que el mundo no es tan perfecto como le habían dicho, y que el sufrimiento es una parte inevitable de la vida.

Los otros cuentos de la colección también son sátiras de la sociedad y la política de la época. Memnón es una historia sobre un esqueleto egipcio que resucita y cuenta su historia a un viajero europeo. Micromegas es la historia de un gigante de la estrella Sirius que visita la Tierra. Historia de los viajes de Escarmentado es una historia sobre un hombre que viaja por el mundo en busca de la felicidad. El hombre de los cuarenta escudos es una historia sobre un hombre que cree que la felicidad se encuentra en la riqueza.

Cándido y otros cuentos es una obra maestra de la literatura satírica. Voltaire utiliza su ingenio y su humor para criticar la religión, la política y la sociedad de su época. La colección sigue siendo relevante hoy en día, ya que sigue abordando temas universales como el sufrimiento, la felicidad y el significado de la vida.

Los cuentos de Voltaire son conocidos por su humor, su ingenio y su crítica social. Cándido y otros cuentos es una colección esencial para cualquier amante de la literatura satírica.

[Eliana Rivero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quien piense que la literatura y la filosofía no pueden estar ligados, no ha leído a Voltaire. Las dos novelas cortas (porque Cándido y El ingenuo deberían ser consideradados como novelas cortas) y los cuatro cuentos que nos presenta este autor francés, representante de la Ilustración, son sus versiones altamente paródicas sobre los cuentionamientos en torno a la vida. A parte de la vida y sus intrincadas tragedias, se cuestiona mucho las corrientes de pensamiento que imperaban en esa época (siglo XVII). Cándido, por ejemplo, es una muestra de esto: se critica la mirada de Leibniz (filósofo alemán) y su optimismo burlándose de la premisa de "vivimos en el mejor de los mundos posibles" haciendo pasar al protagonista, Cándido, por un montón de desgracias y horrores.

Voltaire no es ingenuo al escribir: sus textos son críticas pero también son historias, ficciones que exponen sus obsesiones y temáticas: la mujer como perdición, el odio hacia la guerra y a los entes eclesiásticos. Por otra parte, sus escritos, tales como El blanco y el negro o Micromegas. Historia filosófica, también pueden contarse como precedentes de la literatura fantástica. Estos cuentos tienen una trama de imaginación maravilosa y es una excusa para plantear los cuestionamientos de la vida: ¿qué somos? ¿qué es el alma? ¿en qué creemos? ¿existe Dios?. Así, mediante recursos literarios y disponiendo de diversas historias dentro de la historia (como en el Quijote), Voltaire nos regala increíbles textos llenos de perspicacia, humor y reflexión.

[Elentarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

TITLE: Candide and Other Stories
AUTHOR: Voltaire
TRANSLATOR: Roger Pearson
EDITION: Oxford World's Classics
ISBN-13: 9780199535613

I enjoyed the poem "What Pleases the Ladies?" and the short stories "Micromegas" and "The White Bull", but "Candide", "Zadig" and "The Ingenu" I found to be a bit tedious and long winded even though they weren't all that long. Unfortunately, world classics don't seem to appeal to me much. I can't say how accurate the translation is but it flows nicely without being clunky. The notes at the back are helpful. I just wish they would stick the damn notes at the bottom of the relevant page instead of making the reading flip to the back all the time.

[Gastjäle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 / 5.0

Candide and Ingénu were great, comico-philosophical commentaries on the state of affairs of the 18th century. The humour could be really boisterous and promiscuous, but also clever and thought-provoking. The philosophical side of things was pretty limited, for Voltaire was really keen on attacking just a maxim or two, namely "All is for the best" – however, the way he treated the topic was really fair: a fatalistic attitude towards the great chain of causes and effects will hardly be of use to anyone when people are in dire need of help, nor is it of any consolation to those who suffer the most. It can be also very hypocritical for people to tell others not to simplify the designs of the Supreme Being, who works in mysterious ways, while at the same time these prophets are willing to interpret things while leaning heavily towards the confirmation bias. Our eminent philosopher, Pangloss, for instance likes to point out that all the suffering Candide went through was for the better, because he got to dig in his garden at the very end. I mean, that's both droll and scathing!

Naturally, this way of thinking has other great drawbacks. Why not continue looting and pillaging? Why not simply finish oneself off? Why not simply stay put and starve to death? All is for the best, after all, and there's no Free Will.

Voltaire also criticised the strict class distinctions and customs of his age, but these points were of less interest due to them being so antiquated. Nor was his defence for love that should not be trammeled by birthrights as strong as it should be, since the female representatives of the amorous designs were usually simply commended for their looks.

All in all, Voltaire was a humane, humorous yet cynical philosopher, who, based on these stories, wanted philosophy to be of intellectual consolation and practical use. He also wanted to free it from the chains of the chosen few, who clothe the fine profession with mystique and jargon while closing their eyes from what's actually going on around them. He was also an advocate of healthy diversions: a spell of graft every now and then can ward off needless thoughts. While the latter is an attitude which has now been adopted by many people who'd love to consign philosophy to a dusty bin and shit on it, it's a nice, sensible point of view which acknowledges that it's not only intellectual matter which enables us to see things more clearly.

Now, as for Zadig, Nanine, the Lisbon poem and the spin-off of Candide, I have less approbative views.

The first of these was kind of foreshadowing the views Voltaire would expound on Candide and Ingénu, but the message was not quite clear. An angel himself descended on Earth to hold forth about the aforementioned maxim, which kind of suggests that Voltaire was all for the idea – it simply wasn't practical, that's all. Then again, Zadig does seem to hesitate even after he received this disquisition from the angel, so... one never knows. The prelude to the Lisbon poem seems to corroborate this idea, but the stories seem to be more damning towards the idea than what Voltaire purports to think himself... It's difficult to say. In any case, since Voltaire has a very episodic way of writing, his stories get really boring if they don't have enough meat in them. Zadig had but strips of flesh around the bones, and the end suggested that one should actually think that earthly rewards could be constituted to be a reward for hardships, which is simply silly in the given context. (I might've been blinded by Voltaire's subtle irony, but I'm still giving myself the benefit of the doubt.)

Nanine was as useless as they come. A comedy bereft of comic qualities which simply preaches the importance of the love based on feeling, not on status and riches. We've all heard that before. The Lisbon poem was pretty effective in places, yet the message loses some of its poignancy if one has already read great pieces like Candide.

Finally, the spin-off – not written by Voltaire – was funny, imaginative and even more technical in terms of philosophy than Voltaire's own works, yet it lacked the substance and purpose of the original work. Whereas Voltaire wanted to achieve something with his humour, this spin-off is simply trying to entertain people by creating exaggerated situations and relying even more on fridge logic than Voltaire himself did. The message is more or less the same, which begs the question: why write such things in the first place, because they were already sufficiently handled by V. himself? Oh well, at least it was more preposterous, and hence earned bigger laughs from me.

So yeah, obviously I was not too moved by this compilation. This can also be seen from the haphazard way I've written my review – that's always a tell-tale sign. But still, I do respect Voltaire for his wit and humour, even moreso than for his philosophical stances and social trail-blazing. Wigs off for the great, phlegmatic smirker!

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say I enjoyed reading Candide. I understand why it may be well read, due to when it was written and due to it's content. I'm happy that I read it but I did not enjoy it, as much as I may have enjoyed other classics.

[Laurien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read Candide but I feel like that's enough Voltaire for now, although I did enjoy exploring the text in detail. His use of satire and intelligent vocabulary makes for an enjoyable read, but knowing the background information kinda completes the experience. A good read for my course yay

[Annegida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this cover is hidious, this book is great, good introduction and notes also

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

There may be some dispute about what the purpose of philosophy should be, but one strong contender is that it should be about seeking the good life and finding happiness. In this selection of stories, Voltaire, the philosopher’s anti-philosopher, shows many characters seeking happiness in different ways, and we get to see just how elusive that happiness is.

This volume comprises six stories. Candide is of course the most famous one, and tells the tale of a young man dismissed as a servant and forced to fend for himself in the world. He is accompanied by an optimistic philosopher called Pangloss who believes that we live in the best of all possible worlds, but this is constantly belied by the series of terrible disasters and atrocities that are experienced or witnessed by Candide and his companions.

Micromegas is a shorter story about giants from outer space who commune with the philosophers of Earth. The story ends in a discussion about the soul, in which the giants laugh at the more arrogant pretentions to human superiority that are expressed.

Zadig is the tale of a philosopher who keeps hoping that the pursuit of virtue will bring him happiness, but he passes from one misfortune to another. He finally reconciles himself to the notion that everything is intended for the best (a conclusion strangely at odds with Candide), but the tale ends ambiguously with a happy ending, followed by a few more events that tail off.

In the only poem of the collection, What Pleases the Ladies, a knight is helped to glory by an old crone, but she insists on his marrying her and consummating the marriage. Though repelled by the old woman, he agrees to do so, and is rewarded when she turns out to be a beautiful fairy.

For The Ingenu, we have the tale of a Huron with European blood who is utterly unfamiliar with European customs. Attempts are made to educate him into French habits and Catholicism, but the Huron is free from the prejudices of a conditioned upbringing, and is soon able to think more freely than this. In a second half to the story that is never successfully integrated, we see Saint-Yves have sex with an official to secure the release of her lover (the Ingenu), and watch her die from guilt and shame.

Finally, the book ends with The White Bull. Drawing on a traditional tale of a princess seeking to remove a curse on her lover who has been turned into a bull, the story also finds time to include (and mock) a large number of Biblical stories and characters.

Voltaire offers us no final answer about what it is to be happy, but he spends some time exploring the idea, and he certainly has many ideas about what makes us unhappy. Happiness in Voltaire’s stories generally comes from within, and it is no surprise that the conclusion of Candide shows our hero learning to tend to his own garden. Zadig and the Ingenu find greater peace of mind by cultivating their mind through learning and philosophy.

However, we must not mistake this for any specific system of philosophy. Voltaire is somewhat down on philosophical systems. The absurd optimism of Pangloss is constantly belied by the horrors of a tale that includes murder, slavery, robbery, rape and dismemberment.

Curiously the only thing that makes the appalling events of Candide palatable is Voltaire’s seeming callousness towards his characters. The tale is told in a matter of fact way, and we are encouraged to laugh at the catalogue of atrocities, and to ridicule the foolishness of our heroes.

Zadig’s optimism about virtue is also seen to be misplaced, and a large part of his story is spent seeking to find a golden mean between two forms of virtuous behaviour that both seem to get him into trouble. In Micromegas too, philosophers are reduced to absurdity. They are figures so small that the giants do not even realise the planet is inhabited at first, but they still have inflated ideas about the importance of humanity.

It may seem strange that a philosophical writer such as Voltaire should seem to have such a low opinion of many fields of philosophy but actually this is quite characteristic. Many academics and intellectuals devote a large part of their writings to debunking the work of their colleagues.

The ultimate limit of philosophy however is that happiness is frequently unobtainable for Voltaire’s characters because they are at the mercy of external forces. At best, they can find a way of becoming resigned to their fate, and avoid making their misfortunes worse by their own actions.

It is in this field that Voltaire’s satirical bent is given full sway. As is typical of satirists however, his eagerness to reduce everything to absurdity risks losing sight of all principles, even the ones that he believes in.

For example, Voltaire believed in the need for strong government, but his portrayal of rulers in his stories is not a favourable one. Many of the appalling happenings portrayed in Candide were true historical events, and needed only a little exaggeration. In The White Bull, the tyranny and insecurity of monarchy is stressed so much that it is hard not to feel that it unconsciously presages the French Revolution, which was soon to happen.

In his portrayal of religion, Voltaire also goes perhaps further than he intended. Voltaire does not appear to have been an atheist, but he inadvertently makes a good case for it. His works are fiercely anti-clerical, and a number of corrupt or inept clergymen are dotted throughout the stories. They are seen giving poor education, or seeking to seduce women.

The White Bull ridicules Old Testament stories and reduces them to the level of absurd myths similar to those of Greek legends. The constant misfortunes of the characters in Candide, Zadig and other tales also fail to suggest an orderly universe controlled by a benevolent being. In The Ingenu, Voltaire writes:

“It is an absurdity, an outrage against the human race, an attack on the Infinite and Supreme Being, to say: ‘There is one truth essential to man, and God has hidden it’.”

Voltaire here comes closest to acknowledging the absurdity of believing in a god that commands a single truth open to all, but somehow fails to make this known to us. However, he cannot quite follow through this obvious conclusion, and soon shies away from it.

While Voltaire’s views were certainly advanced in many ways, they are still somewhat behind our own thinking – at least what we now consider advanced. He is occasionally anti-Semitic. His portrayal of women is often dubious too. When the riddle of ‘What Pleases the Ladies’ is revealed, it turns out that it is love of power. There are also plenty of fickle and faithless women in Voltaire’s stories, with only a few virtuous ones.

Not that Voltaire’s morality is too narrow-minded. When Saint-Yves agrees to have sex with Saint-Pouange in order to obtain the release of the Ingenu, and then dies from the shame, Voltaire clearly feels that she is more wrong to give way to guilt than she was to perform the sexual deed. There is no sense here of a woman corrupted forever by sex, and if she had confessed her action to Hercules (the Ingenu), it is clear that he would not have condemned her.

Voltaire’s works are not for those who are seeking good characterisation, and stories in which you care for the people in them. However, they are fascinating intellectual studies that offer amusing subversions of popular genres. He is certainly never dull, and the stories brim with erudition and interesting ideas.

[Guillermo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quien toma entre sus manos este libro se adentra en el universo de un genio. Cándido es, merecidamente, el plato fuerte de esta comida intelectual. Aprecio mucho la cuidadosa traducción y edición de Guillermo Graíño Ferrer: sin sus notas y su epílogo, no hubiera parado mientes en muchos detalles importantes. Me gustan las ediciones de Alianza Editorial, que por lo general cuida bastante de los detalles.

[Kit McEvoy Gould · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candide was vastly more gruesome than I had expected. I'm reminded of Thomas Hardy's art of "all the worst things that could happen, happen", except without the melancholy. Quite an easy, pleasant read. If you can stomach some horrible bits.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voltaire is a famous philosopher of the Enlightenment, and Candide his most famous work. It's very short, less than a hundred pages, and the edition I read filled out the book with three other novellas, Zadig, Ingenu, The White Bull and a short story Micromegas. Although Candide is the most celebrated work in the book, it wasn't necessarily my favorite--but I did find it amusing. Candide is a satiric send-up of Leibniz's theory of optimism through Candide's mentor Dr. Pangloss, who believes we live in "the best of all possible worlds" even in the face of increasingly insane disasters. I thought particularly funny the "genealogy of syphilis" where Pangloss traces the lineage of his infection back in a "direct line from one of Christopher Columbus's shipmates." I also rather loved the iconoclastic and grumpy twitting of classics by Pococurante. I might not agree with his lambasting of Homer and Virgil (though I though he was dead on about Milton) but I agreed with his principle that "Ignorant readers are apt to judge a writer by his reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself. I like nothing but what makes for my purpose."

The short story Micromegas deals with giant visitors to Earth from the star Sirius and the planet Saturn and scoffs at humans' self-centeredness. I think I loved Zadig the most though. The opening gives a nod to 1,001 Arabian Nights and tells the story of Zadig of Ancient Babylonia. He offers up a deduction early on that would make Sherlock Holmes proud and enough wisdom to make Solomon feel abashed. I loved the irreverence of Ingenu (in another edition known as Master Simple). In it a young man raised by the Huron Indians in Quebec confounds others with his reactions to things French, particularly on religious matters. Being convinced to convert to Christianity, for example, he goes about trying to find someone to circumcise him, since that's obviously what the Bible requires, then insists the only way for him to be baptized is in a river, and refuses to recognize the authority of the Pope. The White Bull is also quite fun, as involved are just about every animal who had a role in the Bible--particularly the serpent from Eden whose dialogue with a Princess seems to spoof Milton.

The stories aren't what I expected from what the introduction called "fables of reason" meant to elucidate philosophy. They're not at all dry or inaccessible and were quite fun with lots of lines I'd be tempted to quote if there weren't so many that were wise, witty and striking. These short satires reminded me quite a bit of Swift's Gulliver's Travel only with less bathroom humor and more good-natured.

[Jackie "the Librarian" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one I read in French class, although I cheated and got a copy of the English translation.
What a wacky story! We live in the best of all possible worlds, according to Dr. Pangloss. And yet Candide suffers through trial and tribulation, and meets the victims of terrible situations. Mainly, I remember something about women forced to slice off one butt cheek each to have something to eat.
Absurdity at its finest.

[Fadhl Alesayi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candide is one of the best book I've read because it talks about a peroson (Candide) who is kicked out of a castle after he steals a kiss from his lover. After that, his adventures starts. The story of Canide reveals the differences of several societies at that era and how a human being is treated differently.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voltaire is a master of satire, only rivaled by Mark Twain in my eyes. "Candide" can be read at many different levels, but for my first read I thought it was perhaps the most hilarious book I have ever read. The other stories like "Micromegas" are also very well written and display Voltaire's famous wit. Highly recommended!

[Rob Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read, varied (oriental, knights, SF, poem) but often also bland and childish. The messages about morals and criticisms about church and state are more important than the stories.

"Men are wrong to judge of a whole when they see only the smallest part of it"

"Men have an opinion on everything and know nothing"

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and thought-provoking.

[Leila · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason, I wrote "I have rich lady cheekbones" on the inside back cover. I have no idea why.

[Kyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

garbage book

[Kaju Janowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

With his philosophical views, ironical approach and natural language Voltaire has my attention, reason and heart. To read more!

Re-read: still valid

[Agustina Uliarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cándido: 5 estrellas
Princesa de Babilonia: 3.5 estrellas

[Eva Hilzenrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

more and more the chapter titles read like an “its always sunny,” title card

[Liam Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of the four total stories written by Voltaire in this particular collection (Zadig, Candide, The Ingénu, and Nanine), Ingénu was personally my favorite one, despite Candide being the most famous work of his and in the title itself of this collection. I enjoyed all four stories though, and Candide was definitely my second favorite out of all of them overall. Voltaire proves himself to be an amazing and witty writer through these four works of his, and it is through his very great ideas that he incorporated into these stories of his, why he continues to be honored and discussed as the historic intellectual figure that is so widely respected and quoted today.

Overall, I would give this collection a four or four and a half star rating out of five; and I think that Wordsworth Classics (despite the goofy AI-generated looking cover), did a great job in compiling these renowned and intriguing works of the French Enlightenment thinker and making them easily accessible for today's generation to read and enjoy, much like they did originally in Voltaire's time.