The novella Candide follows a naive young man raised in a Westphalian castle by the philosopher Pangloss, who teaches that this is the best of all possible worlds. Expelled from the castle, Candide faces war, shipwreck, the Lisbon earthquake, the Inquisition and slavery, and meets Cunégonde, whom he loves, and the pessimist Martin. Voltaire attacks Leibnizian optimism and religious hypocrisy with fast-moving satire. The accompanying tales in the volume are in the same ironic spirit.
For readers of Enlightenment literature who like short, witty satire. The final advice, to cultivate our garden, remains one of the most quoted ideas in French literature.
Balanced in tone; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1992
- Publisher
- Gallimard
- Language
- FR
Quotes by Voltaire
More →Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
Common sense is not so common.
Dictionnaire Philosophique
