Candide
Sign in to save' ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Optimism''''' (1947). A young man, Candide, lives a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise, being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. This lifestyle is abruptly ended, followed by Candide's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire
AI overview
"Candide" is a French satirical novella by Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, published in 1759, that follows a young man named Candide as he is stripped from his sheltered life and confronted with the harsh realities of the world, contradicting the optimistic philosophy his mentor had taught him. The work uses Candide's journey of disillusionment to critique the popular belief that everything happens for the best, making it an enduring critique of blind optimism and naïve worldviews.
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Key facts
- Book.name
- Candide
- Book.title_orig
- Candide, ou l'Optimisme
- Book.orig_lang_code
- fr
- Book.image
- Candide1759.jpg
- Book.border
- yes
- Book.caption
- The title-page of the 1759 edition published by Cramer in Geneva, which reads, "Candide, or Optimism, translated from the German of Dr. Ralph."
- Book.author
- Voltaire
- Book.country
- France
- Book.language
- French
- Book.publisher
- 1759: Cramer, Marc-Michel Rey, Jean Nourse, Lambert, and others
- Book.pub_date
- January 1759
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
30 sectionsContents
- Historical and literary background
- Textual allusions
- Creation
- List of characters
- Main characters
- Secondary characters
- Synopsis
- Chapters I–X
- Chapters XI–XX
- Chapters XXI–XXX
- Style
- Satire
- Garden motif
- Philosophy
- Optimism
- Conclusion
- Inside vs. outside interpretations
- Reception
- Legacy
- Derivative works
- See also
- Explanatory notes
- References
- Citations
- General and cited sources
- Further reading
- External links
- Sister project links
- Editions
- Miscellaneous
' ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Optimism''''' (1947). A young man, Candide, lives a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise, being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. This lifestyle is abruptly ended, followed by Candide's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes Candide with, if not rejecting Leibnizian optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds".
Candide is characterized by its tone as well as its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story akin to a serious bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, in a tone that is bitter and matter-of-fact. The events discussed are often based on historical happenings. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so does Candide, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers. Through Candide, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.