Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories

by Francois Voltaire

Other authorsThaisa Frank (Afterword), Donald M. Frame (Translator), John Iverson (Introduction)
Paperback, 1961

Status

Available

Call number

843.5

Collection

Publication

Signet Classics (1961), Paperback, 350 pages

Description

France's most distinguished man of lettersThis essential collection from the genius Voltaire includes his masterpiece and best-known work Candide, as well as his novel Zadigand fourteen short stories- 'Micromegas,' 'The World as It Is,' 'Memnon,' 'Bababec and the Fakirs,' 'History of Scarmentado's Travels,' 'Plato's Dream,' 'Account of the Sickness, Confession, Death, and Apparition of the Jesuit Berthier,' 'Story of a Good Brahman,' 'Jeannot and Colin,' 'An Indian Adventure,' 'Ingenuous,' 'The One-Eyed Porter,' 'Memory's Adventure,' 'Count Chesterfield's Ears,' and 'Chaplain Goudman.'

User reviews

LibraryThing member exlibrisemk
A must read, and a fast read to boot. A Panglossian view, anyone?
LibraryThing member smichaelwilson
Candide, one of Voltaire's most popular works, is a sociopolitical satire in which the author uses the misadventures of the book's titular hero to argue against the philosophy of Leibnizian optimism. The gullible and naive Candide suffers through repeated misfortunes, often inspired by real
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historic events (Seven Years' War, Lisbon Earthquake), organizations (Jesuit Order, Portuguese Inquisition), individuals (Admiral John Bying, Abbe Trublet), and even the mythical land of El Dorado.

This novella is bildungsroman coming-of-age narrative, and while many people compare it to Gulliver's Travels due to the scope and variety of Candide's travels, I was personally reminded of Samuel the Speaker by Upton Sinclair, which also features a young man whose world philosophy is constantly contradicted by the world itself. The

Personally, my favorite companion of Candide's is the Manichaean scholar Martin, whose level-headed pessimistic view of mankind as a world full of idiots drives his frequent recommendations of throwing people out of windows and into oceans.

Candide is fast-based and unrelenting, an epic journey in novella form full of black humor and theological debate as it tackles the concept of good versus evil and the nature of mankind.
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Language

Original language

French

Original publication date

1961 (English ∙ Frame ∙ Donald M)
1759 (Account of the Sickness, Confession, Death , and Apparition of the Jesuit Berthier)
1775 (Memory's ADventure)
1774 (The One-Eyed Porter)
1767 (Ingenuous)
1766 (An Indian Adventure)
1764 (Jeannot and Colin)
1761 (Story of a Good Brahman)
1756 (Plato's Dream)
1747 (Zadig)
1756 (History of Scarmentado's Travels)
1750 (Babec and the Fakirs)
1749 (Memnon)
1748 (The World As It Is)
1752 (Micromegas)
1759 (Candide)
1775 (Count Cheterfield's EArs and Chaplain Goudman)

Physical description

400 p.; 6.7 inches

ISBN

0451531159 / 9780451531155

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