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Easton Press Candide by Voltaire
Candide by Voltaire Easton Press Edition
131 pages, Leather Bound
Published April 21, 1977
About the author
Voltaire
9,436 books4,954 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 of 1 review
December 9, 2025
I have nearly emptied my TBR shelf and in desperation I resorted to my Easton Press 100 Greatest Books for something to read. In that collection I found this work of Voltaire of which I knew nothing and therefore expected nothing. My reward was to be treated to nothing, nothing remarkable or edifying in the least. Why this book is considered worthy of being included in a collection of the 100 Greatest Books is beyond me but I am not that well versed in literary history. Maybe there is more here than I can, at present, see or understand and maybe comments to this review my assist me in understanding the value of this book as something beyond being an artifact of literary history.
While this is a mid 18th century novel the language of the text was easy to understand. I was gratefully surprised by this since reading books from the 18th and 19th century can be a challenge. Of course this book was written in French and therefore has been translated to English and this possibly resulted in the phrasing being updated for contemporary readers. Nevertheless reading the text of this book presented no difficulties. The plot of the book is delivered in what I will call an episodic method with numerous very short chapters presenting a new addition to the travels of the main character, Candide., as well as his traveling companions as they appear in and out and then in again as the story unfolds.
The story itself is a satire as I am led to believe but, unfortunately, satire doesn’t age very well. To appreciate the satire of this story it would be useful to be familiar with the history and culture of the time of the writing of this book. I am not all that familiar with the nature of the society of this time so the satire is lost on me. What I did see was a lot of moral lessons being depicted in the behavior and treatment of the various characters. In this regard I was able to see some value to this book but then again there are other books that do a better job of illustrating such lessons. Maybe I’m not the person to be reviewing a book like this but I just couldn’t see much worth to reading the book and thought it a waste of my time. I can’t recommend it except, possibly, as a relic of literary history.
While this is a mid 18th century novel the language of the text was easy to understand. I was gratefully surprised by this since reading books from the 18th and 19th century can be a challenge. Of course this book was written in French and therefore has been translated to English and this possibly resulted in the phrasing being updated for contemporary readers. Nevertheless reading the text of this book presented no difficulties. The plot of the book is delivered in what I will call an episodic method with numerous very short chapters presenting a new addition to the travels of the main character, Candide., as well as his traveling companions as they appear in and out and then in again as the story unfolds.
The story itself is a satire as I am led to believe but, unfortunately, satire doesn’t age very well. To appreciate the satire of this story it would be useful to be familiar with the history and culture of the time of the writing of this book. I am not all that familiar with the nature of the society of this time so the satire is lost on me. What I did see was a lot of moral lessons being depicted in the behavior and treatment of the various characters. In this regard I was able to see some value to this book but then again there are other books that do a better job of illustrating such lessons. Maybe I’m not the person to be reviewing a book like this but I just couldn’t see much worth to reading the book and thought it a waste of my time. I can’t recommend it except, possibly, as a relic of literary history.
Displaying 1 of 1 review