Candide, a young man raised in the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh's castle in Westphalia, is taught by Dr. Pangloss that this is the best of all possible worlds. Thrown out for kissing the baron's daughter, Cunégonde, he is conscripted, flogged, caught in the Lisbon earthquake, reunited with a battered Cunégonde, and sent across the Atlantic to Eldorado. Each misfortune tests Pangloss's optimism, which Voltaire mocks as Leibnizian philosophy. The book closes with the advice to cultivate one's own garden.
A short satire for anyone who enjoys wit and philosophical jokes with bite. It is a very quick read, and still funny.
Deep and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2003
- Publisher
- Editions Gallimard
- ISBN
- 9782070302390
- 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
