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Candide (Penguin Popular Classics)

by Voltaire, Norman Cameron (Translator)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 78,066 ratings · 2,713 reviews

Satirical novel published in 1759 that is the best-known work by Voltaire. It is a savage denunciation of metaphysical optimism--as espoused by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz--that reveals a world of horrors and folly. In this philosophical fantasy, naive Candide sees and suffers such misfortune that he ultimately rejects the philosophy of his tutor Docto...more

Paperback, 104 pages

Published October 25th 2001 by Penguin Books (first published January 1759)

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Apr 24, 2013 BirdBrian's ghost rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Poor Candide! He falls from one misadventure to another, getting kicked out of his home, drafted into foreign armies, gaining a fortune, losing a fortune, chasing the object of his desires the globe over, and almost burned at the stake as a heretic. All the while, his childhood teacher and traveling companion Dr. Pangloss rationalizes every turn of events as "for the best".

The all-knowing Universe would never let anything happen unless it was for the best. This is, after all, the best of all pos...more

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Mar 09, 2012 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books; 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2010)

Shelves: 1001-core, 501, french, classics

panglossian - adj. characterized by or given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity.

If an English word came from a book's character, that must be something. If the book was written and first published in the 18th century and many people still read it up to now, that must be really something.

I thought Voltaire's Candide was a difficult boring slow long read. Wrong. Exactly the opposite. It's an easy, very entertaining, fast-paced and short (only 100 pages) read. If you are still scared of reading classics (pre-1900), give this one a try. You will love this!

It tells a story of a man named Candide who falls in love with a materialistic but very beautiful Cunegonde. Her barron father of the lady does not approve of the affair so he kicks Candide out from house. So, Candide wanders around and meets all the misfortunes along the way. The novel is a picaresque as the long travel, meeting a lot of people and experiencing all the fortunes and misfortunes along the way, ends up with Candide enjoying his life and tending the beautiful garden of his estate.

This is the reason why I, after more than 3 years, went to our frontyard this morning and tended my overgrown garden. I pruned the trees and the shrubs, trimmed the plants, pulled out some weeds while my daughter helped in shooing away big red ants and removing the cobwebs. Reading has these all positive effects on me. It can even remind me of the things that I have been forgetting for a long time. This novel closes with this line: "That is well said," replied Candide, "but we must cultivate our garden.". When I finished reading it last night, I said, why not?

Its complete title is Candide or Optimism because of Candide's tutor, Doctor Pangloss who is an extreme optimist that Candide learns to always look at the positive side of things. You may say that I liked this book because of that. Wrong. The positivity of Dr. Pangloss is one for the books as it verges on stupidity and it is so funny when Candide remembers him and says "I wonder what would Pangloss say if he was here?" Having an English word culled from his name is really appropriate. He is really one for the books.

A life err routine-changing novel since I am gardening again after 3 long years of doing nothing at home but reading, reading and reading...

Except of course when am I at Goodreads reading book reviews of my friends, clicking the Like button and when I am in front of my desktop killing zombies by throwing plants at them.

I liked this book!(less)

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Aug 11, 2011 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: optimists, anarchist, pacifists and 1001 readers

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: comedy pianist Tim Minchin

Shelves: 1001-books, bookcrossing-books, le-french, read-in-2011

This book is on the 1001 list and as a 1001 lister you might think that this was what prompted me to read this book. Think that and you would be wrong. Want to know what really prompted me to read this?

I wrote a letter to Mr Sony
I said, "Hey S-sony what's g-going down?
I've got a record and I reckon it's wicked
And I th-think you should s-spread it around."
He said, "Hey Tim, I quite like your work
He said, "It's clever and quirky
But I promise you this:
You could be clever as Voltaire
But it won't get...more

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Oct 22, 2007 Keely rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, reviewed, french

This book does not stick so well in my memory in either a negative or positive way, but I think this comes from the book being a mixture of two things which I could not feel more differently about: allegory and satire.

The first I find to be as silly and pointless as Aesop or Passion Plays. Characters in an allegory are oversimplified symbols, and so cannot comment on the nature of actual human beings. The style is already so firmly affixed to cultural states and norms that it cannot really say a...more This book does not stick so well in my memory in either a negative or positive way, but I think this comes from the book being a mixture of two things which I could not feel more differently about: allegory and satire.

The first I find to be as silly and pointless as Aesop or Passion Plays. Characters in an allegory are oversimplified symbols, and so cannot comment on the nature of actual human beings. The style is already so firmly affixed to cultural states and norms that it cannot really say anything beyond the dichotomous, and dualists are blinded by their egos.

I do love satire, but that is generally because of the wit and skill it takes to subvert and re-imagine. Unfortunately, once one has drawn so deeply on hyperbole in a work, it loses its ability to find that necessarily uncomfortable 'grey area'--that rift between assumption and observation.

Voltaire is witty and funny, but his condemnation and praise falls only on unrealistic absolutes, and hence becomes only political rather than philosophical. In this, he becomes in many ways Shakespeare's opposite; whose characters were so vaguely sketched that they could be held representative of many disparate identities.

It is too easy to force and distort arguments when the accepted givens are so strictly defined and counterpointed. This problem should be evident to anyone in America today who sees how opposition to ideas is transformed into meaninglessly pejorative identities. The temptation of thought-terminating cliches grows ever more in the face of such opposing forces as Voltaire presents.

No doubt much of Voltaire's popularity stems from the fact that he is so narrowly applicable and divisive. In this way he almost works like a philosopher since his ideas are so forcefully professed. However, unlike a philosopher he represents his opponents in a state of utter ridicule, he is less convincing than polarizing.

The other part of Voltaire's popularity comes from his empty century. The Seventeenth had Shakespeare and Milton. The Nineteenth showed the ridiculously fecund blossoming of the Romantics. The Eighteenth, however, has Fielding, Swift, Voltaire, and Pope. Fielding has escaped as wide a reading because his satire was more social than strictly political. Pope and Swift were likewise satirists, but of such a fanciful nature as to escape more simplistic and contentious forces. This leaves us with the more accessible Voltaire, who may be used to attack ideas, but not to build upon them.(less)

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Apr 20, 2012 David Lentz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Candide" is an accessible masterpiece which demonstrated to the world Volatire's genius as a satirist. The eponymous Candide is a young man tutored by an optimist who is convinced according to the cause and effect philosophy of Leibniz and perhaps is best summarized in Voltaire's leitmotif that human beings live in the "best of all possible worlds." Alexander Pope rather laughably made the same outrageous claim in his "Essay on Man" in which he writes, "Everything that is is right." How can thi...more "Candide" is an accessible masterpiece which demonstrated to the world Volatire's genius as a satirist. The eponymous Candide is a young man tutored by an optimist who is convinced according to the cause and effect philosophy of Leibniz and perhaps is best summarized in Voltaire's leitmotif that human beings live in the "best of all possible worlds." Alexander Pope rather laughably made the same outrageous claim in his "Essay on Man" in which he writes, "Everything that is is right." How can this be so, you may well ask? Here is the nut of the problem: it seems that a perfect God has created a highly imperfect world. How can a good, omnipotent, loving God create a world in which so much catastrophic evil exists and which is so often allowed even to thrive? It is a question for the ages. Theologians argue that God created mankind with free will and without it they would simply be puppets without the freedom to make choices. Theologians also point out that the majority of the evil resident in our world is perpetuated on vast masses of humanity by other human beings, not God, and that evil is the cause and effect of conflicting self-interests imposed by people with more power upon the less powerful. But this point doesn't explain why a loving, all-powerful God would allow any of it to exist and endure. Why not cast down all the devils and give his human creatures a perfect garden, a paradise on earth, without snakes anywhere? Why did God create the serpent in the Garden of Eden in the first place? Voltaire, like Rousseau, was an avid gardener and Voltaire jests at Rousseau's good faith in the "Confessions" as if the latter were simply a country bumpkin. But gardens have a great deal of meaning in "Candide" as in, for example, Milton's "Paradise Lost" or "Genesis" and are thematically significant for Voltaire who concludes that gardens are, after all, a wise place to reside out of harm's way. Voltaire absolutely skewers the optimistic cause and effect of Pope and Leibniz with a catalog of tragicomic catastrophes which plague not only Candide and Pangloss but all of mankind infinitely. Consider the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 which burst suddenly out of nowhere with all its raging fires and tidal waves to destroy nearly all of the city and the ships in its harbor. Is there no end even to the great catastrophes in which man has no hand but from which we are compelled to suffer except for God's grace? Voltaire's vivid and piercing wit is hilarious as he brazenly brings parody to places high and low, near and far, rich and poor to depict our world as the ultimate dystopia. In his novel Candide can only find a semblance of happiness in El Dorado, a rich, hidden world in South America: in other words, happiness in real life can only be found in a utopia without a basis for reality. So what are we to deduce about Candide? Is he a sometimes violent fool for all his naivete? And is Pangloss not a buffoon who earns his suffering so extensively at every turn of the road for his unjustified, unbridled optimism? Or are they heroic for their optimism despite the epic disasters that nearly devastate them time after time. Or is their fate really just the human condition and are they both just being all too human? You decide. In the course of your reading of this brief novel you may discover, as I did, that the optimists are constantly challenged by the gap between their optimism and reality, and that the pessimists are doomed to be the unhappiest people on the planet because they cannot imagine a world without misery and, thereby, create it for themselves wherever it doesn't really already exist. Take your pick of perspectives as a "free" human being and challenge your own assumptions about the human condition. Clearly, Balzac would seem to agree with his compatriot, Voltaire, that whatever you make of life on this earth, surely it is no less than an epic human comedy. At least in this life, thankfully, if you can stand back far enough, there is, God knows, no end to the laughter of the human condition.(less)

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Mar 16, 2013 ميّ أحمد rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات, فلسفة

من الأدب الساخر بطلها يدعى كانديدوترجمتها حسب ما قرأت هي الساذج
تقوم الرواية على فكرة أن العالم ملىء بالشر وإن الإنسان عليه أن لا يسرف بالتفاؤل ولعلها فعلا كما ظن جاك جان روسو كانت الرد على رسالته التي وجهها إلى فولتير والتي تنتقد النظرة التشاؤمية التي يكتب بها فولتير وإن كان يظن أن فولتير لم يطلع على تلك الرسالة مع إن كل الدلائل تشير لعكس ذلك ، ينتقد فولتير هذا العالم الممتلىء بالقسوة فالكل في هذه الرواية يبدو شريرا .. كما إنه لا توجد قوانين أخلاقية تجمع بين البشر ..بل المنفعة والأنانية والسل...more

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May 12, 2013 Samadrita rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Every one

Shelves: 1001-and-more, timeless-classics, france, european-literature, satire, humour-of-the-dignified-kind, cherished, awesomesauce, re-readable, novella-short-stories

What a blistering criticism of blind prejudice, ignorance, religious dogma, class distinctions and the stubborn opposition to newer ideas and thoughts! I fully understand now why Voltaire's writings helped fuel the French Revolution.

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Feb 24, 2008 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone.

While fruitlessly searching for something decent to read, I invariably come across a ton of acclaim for total hacks being labeled as ‘master satirists’. God that pisses me off, especially since none of those books are worth a damn, and while the authors wrongly think they have something interesting or unique to say, the thing that really disheartens me is that someone out there agrees with them. For each of these books, there should be a simple label affixed to the front cover that reads ‘Not As...more While fruitlessly searching for something decent to read, I invariably come across a ton of acclaim for total hacks being labeled as ‘master satirists’. God that pisses me off, especially since none of those books are worth a damn, and while the authors wrongly think they have something interesting or unique to say, the thing that really disheartens me is that someone out there agrees with them. For each of these books, there should be a simple label affixed to the front cover that reads ‘Not As Good As Candide’. I seriously think this would alleviate about 30% of all my unresolved issues with the public’s perception of what makes for decent reading. The other 70% could be resolved by making major overhauls to a universal ‘required reading’ list: The Great Gatsby, eh….let’s just toss that crap out and put Cosmos on there, how about actually learning something while you read?

I’m not about to give Candide a perfect score, and I don’t think that it deserves one, but I will say that it’s damn good. It seems that some of the popular philosophy making the rounds back in Francois-Marie’s day was just rubbing him wrong, especially the absolutely moronic concept that we live in ‘the best of all possible worlds’. Most people hear something that weak and simply binge drink to erase the awful memory that somebody out there could possibly believe that kind of shit. A lot of people write against these notions and somehow get their pitiful little whims published in the commentary of the local newspaper, and you wish you could choke those imbeciles as well, for giving more press to an already absurd concept. Lastly, there are the few that decide to sit down and write a satire about a hundred pages long to denounce what they consider absolute folly.

And with Candide, Voltaire relentlessly attacks the ridiculous philosophy of Liebniz and his familiars, attempting to show that this is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the best of all possible worlds (mainly because of the large number of utter clods totally f--king up the works). Our hero, Candide, is a naive youth being reared in the castle of a Westphalian Baron, living the good life while being tutored by a total fraud and hack named Pangloss, the Baron’s oracle/scholar. The only hindrance in the life of our featherbedded little friend is that his love interest, Cunogonde, happens to be the Baron’s vivacious 17-year old daughter, and the Baron isn’t about to have his daughter betrothed to some chump lacking the amount of noble ancestry suitable to his standards. The soothing, silver tongue of Pangloss has made an indelible mark on Candide, however, and when the opportunity arises to plant a surreptitious smooch on Cunegonde, he’s busted in the act and driven from the castle “when the Baron saluted Candide with some notable kicks on the rear”. That’s just hilarious, 'notable kicks', and there’s something this appealing on basically every page to follow: as this is only just the beginning; the first misfortune to befall our thick-skulled friend, Candide. Each successive f--king he suffers along the way is not only totally hilariously described in an absurd fashion, but is usually resolved in awesomely unreal turns of fate (I don’t think I could make it more than five pages without either cracking a smile or outright laughing for all the right reasons). The Baron’s castle is sacked by Bulgarians following Candide’s exile, setting the lively and luscious Cunegonde in flight from Westphalia as well, and one unfortunate event after another befalls both lovers; with Candide’s life quickly becoming filled with floggings, poverty, the Inquisition. natural disasters, piracy, and getting pimp-jacked as a result of some devious manipulation, while his beloved is reduced to harlotry, being ravished or ravaged, and unbecoming servitude at the hands of her completely offensive captors and suitors. Wow.

It probably isn’t the best book you’ll ever read, but I'd be pretty shocked to find out it wasn't even enjoyed.(less)

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Jul 01, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

Zounds! This book is wildly entertaining and I giggled all the way through Candide's awful adventures. Who would have thought that murder, rape, slavery, sexual exploitation, natural disaster, pillaging, theft, and every other oppression imaginable could be so funny?

Here's some pretty good insight from the old woman with one buttock:

"I have been a hundred times upon the point of killing myself, but still I was fond of life. This ridiculous weakness is, perhaps, one of the dangerous principles im...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, historical-fiction

If you read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Pride and Prejudice, you will at least be familiar with the styles that Voltaire used when he composed this novella: picaresque and satire. And what a combination in one book! To have adventures and laughs in one sitting is such a rare treat.

The story begins when Candide, a close relative of a respected and powerful Baron in Westphalia (region in Germany), was kicked out, literally, by the Baron. His crime: kissing the Baron's daughter, Candide's lov...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Benjamin Duffy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books

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...more 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!(less)

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Jul 26, 2010 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I'm not a big fan of whimsy and satire, but this was an amusing read. It required some research on my part in order to attempt to recognize the subjects Voltaire was skewering. I'm sure I didn't understand all of it, but at least I've now read up on Leibniz's optimism, which claims that since God is omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent, this world we live in must be the best possible of all worlds. Evil is merely "shadows in a beautiful picture", as Candide suggests, and all things happen for a...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Robert Delikat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone interested in the classics

Recommended to Robert by: Gary Anderson by way of his latest novel.

Shelves: classics-or-related

After a number of unspecified decades, I reread this classic and moved it from 4 to 5 stars. I do not even remember this book being as great as I now think that it is. The book is hilarious and, given when it was written, centuries ahead of its time.

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Feb 13, 2008 Irishcoda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the best book for me to read at this moment in time! Right now, things have gone wrong with us financially, physically, emotionally and in just about every way. The last time this happened, I picked up Why Bad Things Happen To Good People and it felt "right". This time around, the satire and black humor was just right for me!

One thing that is really cool is that Candide's story is timeless, even though it was written in the 18th century! At some point, most people suffer and some more s...more This was the best book for me to read at this moment in time! Right now, things have gone wrong with us financially, physically, emotionally and in just about every way. The last time this happened, I picked up Why Bad Things Happen To Good People and it felt "right". This time around, the satire and black humor was just right for me!

One thing that is really cool is that Candide's story is timeless, even though it was written in the 18th century! At some point, most people suffer and some more so than others. Why? Well, one theory is that everything happens for a reason so look for the silver lining in the cloud. It was meant to be. It's all for the best. Sometimes I find that idea comforting.

It's pretty clear that Voltaire didn't and, in fact, it angered him to the point he wrote a really funny book about it all.

Candide is a priviliged young man living at the estate of a very wealthy man. His tutor is Dr. Pangloss whose teachings revolve around turning Candide into the eternal optimist, no matter what awful things occur. Candide is ejected forcibly from his comfortable home for making a move on the baron's attractive daughter.

He then goes through some of the worst stuff that could possibly happen to a person. Just one of these calamaties alone would cause a person to fall into despair, but not Candide. I won't go into all of his experience here except for one example. As he, his tutor Dr. Pangloss (who's fallen into ruin himself), and their benefactor sail into Lisbon, there's a huge storm that wrecks the ship and drowns the friend who was caring for them. Dr. Pangloss explains it all away: the harbor was placed there just so that this storm could come and wreck the ship and kill almost everyone on board. Then they are hit by an earthquake, but that was as it's supposed to be, too. Earthquakes happen in Lisbon. It's the best that could happen and was meant to be.

I was just rolling on the floor laughing so hard I almost cried.

The reason this is a timeless book is that you could substitute what happened in Lisbon for what happened during the Christmas tsunami of two years ago. Try telling the survivors it was all for the best and meant to be because tsunamis happen in that part of the world.

The book isn't long at all and it's very easy to read, something that is rare in a classic (for me, anyway). I thoroughly enjoyed it and I know others would too!(less)

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Mar 11, 2008 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, four-star-fiction, all-fiction

I didn't expect this book to be so funny! What a nice surprise. The story is a lampoon of the phony, foolish "optimism" that says, "This must be the best of all possible worlds, because this is the way the world is." Even though the book was written over 200 years ago, it is still timely. It applies today to the ridiculous people who say that "thinking positive" will make everything work out.
Voltaire's conclusion, after all of Candide's experiences, is that we must "work in the garden." To me th...more

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Aug 29, 2007 Lorenzo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: french, aaa-my-library

Hilarious! And yet deep in its own way.

One of the very few books on the so called "philosophy" I've been able to digest. I've literally devoured Candide when I was 16. And then I've read it again, with double pleasure and double laughing.

Besides, thanks to Voltaire I've discovered that Leibniz is not only a biscuit.

This book is suggested to everyone who wants to look at his/her life in a better way while in a difficult period. Don't worry guys: whatever your troubles are, Candide's ones are wor...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Sandhya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: students of literature and history

I don't think this is a timeless classic but it's nevertheless an interesting work by Voltaire, who ruthlessly satarises the 'movement of stoicism' that was gaining momentum in the 17th century. Even amidst great calamities, the stoics preached that people must endure their suffering bravely and not complain. "Every thing is willed by god and men must not rebel against it," they said.

Voltaire, who was dead against this theaory wrote Candide as a sharp reaction to it.

If seen in the context of thi...more

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Apr 29, 2010 maricar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction

Humans really do have a great capacity to be miserable…

I dare not propound any way with which to look at this piece of writing – I’m hardly equipped to do so. I just want to say that I greatly enjoyed reading this. The circumstances and twists in the fates of all the characters were so fantastical as to be probable, unbelievable enough to be actually quite possible.

In the center of it all is the hugely naïve, pitifully gullible, but steadfastly noble and generous Candide. Through this character’...more

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Jan 01, 2009 MacK rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: world-lit, favorites, classics

I don't know quite how it happened, but this book has come up again and again over the past month. Though I read it in college and enjoyed it then, I had forgotten exactly what made Candide so brilliant.

It's not the characters. Though, to be fair, the characters are remarkable. A hopelessly naive protagonist you feel tremendous sympathy for along with a remarkable cast of characters from nobles to ne'er do wells, priests to prostitutes, philosophers, fanatics and fiends connect you with Voltaire...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Sukyna Ssi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

While reading this book, I discovered that Voltaire has described every real first-time one would encounter in the journey of one's life, for Candide has been living in "the best of all castles" and never knew what hardships are about. So after he was chased out of the famous castle, because he was unlucky enough to fall in love for the very first time with a woman, who was the daughter of the baron of the castle, Voltaire described the first time that Candide killed, got beaten, was rescued, vi...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Angus rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-and-blogged, the-novel-100

Original post at Book Rhapsody.

***

Intro

I was never really interested in this book. I know it’s a popular satire, but the only reason that I got my hands on this is the constant egging of a past flame. He loves this book so much; it was all that he could rant about every time our conversations steered towards literature.

So when I made my weekly second-hand book store tour, I made a mental note to buy me a copy as long as it was cheaper than most books. And voilà! I had myself a copy. Seeing that...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Robert rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: french, general-fiction

If you can imagine a smooth blend of the Book of Job, Dante's Inferno, Cervantes' Don Quixote and Butler's Erewhon, with the addition of a heavy dollop of extra absurdity, you are getting close to the nature of Candide. That absurdity is what makes the tale funny and without it, it would be an unpaletable concoction.

There is a good deal of social and political satire, something I often find to be a little weak; it's easy to point and laugh, harder to say what might be better. Voltaire, does howe...more

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May 14, 2009 C. added it · review of another edition

Shelves: started-and-put-aside

Finally getting into it and it's hilarious! "Tout est bien, tout va bien, tout va le mieux qu'il soit possible." Hm, je pense pas, sot. My goodness he's so naive and stupid it's farcical. J'aime bien.
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This is reminding me quite a lot of Tintin.
_____________________
I... I'm struggling with the French. It's so archaic! Half the words don't make sense to me in the context (presumably because their meanings have changed) and when I come across a word I don't know and look it up i...more

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Jul 26, 2008 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book has a special place in my heart. My eighth grade teacher (who, I think, was supposed to be teaching us history or possibly lit at the time) took me aside one day, handed me this book and said, "Hey, I think you'd like this. Why don't you read it?" Then he let me do just that, during class. He taught my classmate Curtis to play chess because, again, he thought Curtis would like that. I'm sure he gave other people stuff to do. Maybe he introduced them to something that would be part of t...more

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Apr 01, 2008 Christopher Pulleyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After having listened to a copy of the Operetta based on this book by Leonard Bernstein, I was compelled to read the original story. Having studied French literature, I would have liked to read the novel in its original French, but didn't have a copy accessible. However, I got the impression that this particular translation was a very appropriate one. It seemed to capture a straight-forward and witty tone, adhering to frequent use of a germanic/anglo-saxon style of lexicon - perhaps to encourage...more After having listened to a copy of the Operetta based on this book by Leonard Bernstein, I was compelled to read the original story. Having studied French literature, I would have liked to read the novel in its original French, but didn't have a copy accessible. However, I got the impression that this particular translation was a very appropriate one. It seemed to capture a straight-forward and witty tone, adhering to frequent use of a germanic/anglo-saxon style of lexicon - perhaps to encourage the reader to be immersed in the German roots of Westphalia and the protagonist Candide. At the same time, there are subtle tones of a whimsical and witty French style with a subtle narrative that makes occaisional use of latinate lexicon - it all seems to have been very carefully thoughtout, and I enjoyed this particular translation very much as a result. It allowed me to enjoy the eventful story, and get a feel for the different places and people that are involved in the novel, whilst also considering the more deeper philosophical elements that Voltaire presents to the reader.

The footnotes are not too frequently used, but are very useful and informative when they do appear. I recommend refering to them. The cover of the book must also be celebrated. It effectively draws a reader to this particular edition with its vivid colors and detail, and the little illustrations (and 'puzzles'!) are an excellent and playful way of introducing the reader to the content and themes of the novel.

The novel was never too deeply philosophical, and there is always a tendancy to become easily bored by philosophical fiction. Voltaire was very tongue-in-cheek, and the footnotes help to provide a background to the satire and the elements of comedy within the novel. I particularly enjoyed the ending - which managed to subdue the exciting, bustling and often dramatic events of the plot into a poignant and touching lesson that even in todays world is highly relevant, and, perhaps not as considered as it should be in order to acheive some kind of content happiness! (less)

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Oct 07, 2007 Karl Steel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books_i_taught, postmedieval_fiction

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 fa...more

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Sep 11, 2007 Jarrodtrainque added it · review of another edition

Political satire doesn't age well, but occasionally a diatribe contains enough art and universal mirth to survive long after its timeliness has passed. Candide is such a book. Penned by that Renaissance man of the Enlightenment, Voltaire, Candide is steeped in the political and philosophical controversies of the 1750s. But for the general reader, the novel's driving principle is clear enough: the idea (endemic in Voltaire's day) that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and apparent folly...more

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Sep 17, 2008 Gigi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I found this a very difficult read since intellectually I could see the argument and the satire but emotionally the images were so graphic that it was hard to get through all of the traumatic events that occurred. I also felt the actual flow of writing was off.

Having said that I think Voltaire successfully used satire to show that many of the new philosophies of his day (and which continue today) did not correlate with reality. That a theory on paper might have looked reasonable but in practical...more

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May 12, 2007 Joel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For much of the book, I would have put it in the three star catagory, like listening to a Richard Pryor or Lenny Bruce comedy album. You can tell that it was poignant and biting comedy at its time, but being so far removed, it doesn't really have the kick that it may once have.

That being said, by halfway through, you begin to get wrapped up in the fates of Candide and his pals that it moves itself into 4 territory, and all in all, is a pleasant, fast paced, moderately depressing, occasionally fu...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Ellen Adkins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely loved this book. It was unexpectedly quirky and funny, yet had heart and depth to it. Voltaire definitely takes you on an adventure as you follow the escapades of young and naïve Candide as he learns and discovers the harsh realities of the world. Riddled with tragedy and loss, this book is definitely for somebody who can appreciate dark humor, possibly bordering on morbid. This story is truly timeless, a tale that can cross centuries yet still be relevant.
The thing that I enjoyed...more

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About Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet, better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, deist and philosopher known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade.

Voltaire was a prolific writer, and produced works in almost every literary form, authoring plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works...more

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Candide and Other Stories (World's Classics)

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Quotes from Candide

“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 more stupid 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?” — 358 people liked it

“Optimism," said Cacambo, "What is that?" "Alas!" replied Candide, "It is the obstinacy of maintaining that everything is best when it is worst.” — 165 people liked it

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