An absurd but thoroughly fun adventure story. Very readable despite its age.
I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life.

The narrative is like a soap with constantly characters returning from the dead, balanced out by the sharp and witty descriptions the agony of everyday life, in terms of slavery, illness, rape, religious prosecution and war. Candide himself and his love interest remain bland and predominantly a storytelling attribute, but characters like Martin, Pangloss and the old lady are funny and sharply drawn. Voltaire is scathing, with his critique on the best possible world argument from the elites, making this still an interesting book to read in the modern day.

رواية مضحكة جدًا
وممتعة لأبعد حد
أعجبتني سخرية فولتير من كل شئ الحقيقة
سخرية من اليهود
والمسيحية
وحتى المسلمين الأتراك
مليئة بالأفكار العظيمة ولكن بأسلوب بسيط
تتخللها فلسفة بسيطة للغاية
وتتجلى فيها رؤية وأفكار فولتير الفلسفية الساخرة
والتي جرت عليه النقد الشديد للغاية
كان يمكن أن تعجبني لو كنت قرأتها منذ ثلاثة قرون مثلًا
أحسست أني عدت بالزمن للوراء
تجربة جميلة جدًا مع فولتير

I dedicate this review to my dear friend Roger, a writer of inspiring reviews. This is in great part in answer to your question: "Do you ever read anything light?"

Roger made me think: what major literature work, as nothing less would do!, that I read would fit the definition of light? Of course, Candide came up front to my mind. And what makes Candide so brilliant and hilarious? Not one think, but various factors combined:

1. Remarkable characters: a hopelessly naïve protagonist, for whom you have no choice but be sympathetic with; wastrel nobles, besides a motley group from priests to prostitutes, philosophers (how could Voltaire not include a parody of himself?) ending with fanatics and fiends;

2. The absurdity of its plot: The plot is dizzying, hectic and horrifying, while its protagonist goes from nobility to serfdom, from penury to extravagance, from significance and misery to anonymity and contentment. Wholly unconventional! And its readers become dazzled by its unfolding events that that despite being absurd are also utterly real;

3. The genius of Voltaire: as you turn the pages you realize that’s he is there, peeking from behind the curtains into the stage, whispering to you: It could all be true! Oh, yes! So, a long string of jokes creeps from the pages to the reader, absurdities that are not so absurd; and enriches the reading experience with insight into its context.

Candide reveals itself as a long-gone-road-trip Journal of genuine charitable naivety. The tragedies and violence are never ending, more than anybody’s fair share. Poor Candide, he skips from one misadventure to another: gets kicked out of his home; is drafted into the army; gains a fortune, loses his fortune; chases the object of his desire all over the world:
n  

“I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?”

n
At all his disasters and misfortunes, his teacher and traveling companion Dr. Pangloss simply rationalizes: n  'it is all for the best!'n This is the best possible world we live in, and the bad things that occur happen to be the best to show us the blessing of what we have. Is that it?

Voltaire goes further:
n  

“'It is demonstrable,' said he, 'that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. The legs are visibly designed for stockings, accordingly we wear stockings. Stones were made to be hewn and to construct castles, therefore My Lord has a magnificent castle; for the greatest baron in the province ought to be the best lodged. Swine were intended to be eaten, therefore we eat pork all the year round: and they, who assert that everything is right, do not express themselves correctly; they should say that everything is best.'”

n
How could it not be more absurd and hilarious! And so Voltaire succeeds in ridiculing his world. And, in a way, our own!

n  

“All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunegonde, if you hadn't been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn't traveled across America on foot, if you hadn't given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn't lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn't be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios.

n
Exhausted, Candide finally finds his just-retreat "[w]e must cultivate our garden."

Yes, Candide is one of my favorite books, and it occupies a very special place in that collection.

امتیاز ۳.۵

آخرین چیزی که پیش از خواندن کاندید می‌توانستم به آن فکر کنم، داستانی مملو از ماجراهای متعدد بود. با این همه، این کتاب برخلاف انتظارم، مملو از ماجرا بود. ماجراهایی رئالیستی ولی غیر حقیقی و باورناپذیر. ولتر مانند هر نویسنده‌ای بین هم‌نسلانش گویا از چپاندن فلسفه‌ی داستانشان در یک سری اتفاق روزمره دوری می‌کند و ترجیح می‌دهد داستانش را در قالب یک هزار و یک شبِ کوچک تعریف کند. این کتاب با توجه به تاثیر آن در تاریخ فلسفه و ادبیات، یک شاهکار کوتاه است. اثری که هنوز هم حرفی برای گفتن دارد منتها امروزه ممکن است با توجه شکل داستانش مورد پسند بیشتر خوانندگان امروزین نباشد و آن را اثری کاملا معمولی و منطقی تلقی کنند.

بهمن هزار و چهارصد

کتاب کاندید را "شاهکار شعور بشر" نامید ه اند.این اثر کم حجم ،شجاعانه ترین و برهنه ترین یورش علیه مفاسد گوناگونی است که گریبانگیر بشریت در گذشته و امروز است.طنز تلخ ولتر در زمینه ی به نقد کشیدن مفاسد سیاسی-اجتماعی حکومت ها و ستم های بشر بر بشر به زیبایی خودنمایی می کند
کاندید(ساده دل) اثر زیبا و ارزشمندی هست که بی شک ارزش یک بار خواندن را دارد

بخش هایی از کتاب

پانگلوس گفت : بشر خلق نشده است تا بیکار و بیهوده باشد
مارتین گفت: به جای نظریه پردازی درباره ی کار، کار را عملاً آغاز کنیم و این تنها راه قابل تحمل کردن زندگی است
***
پیرزن گفت: طی این مدت یکصد بار تصمیم به خودکشی گرفته ام، اما باز زنده بودن را دوست میدارم. این ضعف ننگ آلود ،یعنی تمایل به زنده ماندن، شاید زیان بار ترین تمایلات بشر باشد
***
شما میتوانید حتی بخاطر گذراندن وقت هم که شده از هر مسافر بخواهید که سرگذشت خود را شرح دهد و اگر یک نفر را یافتید که از بخت بد خود شکوه و ناله ندارد و خود را بدبخت ترین فرد دنیا نمیداند، در آن صورت میتوانید مرا به کله به بیرون از این کشتی در آب دریا پرت کنید
***
مارتین دست آخر متقاعد شد که مردم دنیا، همه مانند هم و در همه جای جهان امّا به شکل های مختلف، بدبخت اند و احساس شکست و نرسیدن به هدف خود میکنند

This is a truly hilarious satire which starts with poor Candide being kicked out of the castle where he was born and brought up, after he falls in love with the baron’s daughter, Cunegonde. Then his troubles begin, and he ends up travelling all around the world looking for his beloved.

Candide experiences trial after trial, each one as bad and as far-fetched as the last. However, the way in which these trials were described did not make one feel too sorry for him; the story had more of the feel of a tragicomedy, especially with the speed of events and the gross exaggerations.

Candide’s mentor, the philosopher, Pangloss, was such an infuriating yet funny character. He maintains that “…everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds” and stubbornly sticks by this maxim. This book is a bildungsroman of sorts because we see what Candide makes of that supposition throughout his trials.

Voltaire spares nobody in his attack on society. “Figure to yourself all the contradictions, and all the absurdities possible, and you will find them in the church, in the government, in the tribunals, and in the theatres of this droll nation.”

I can only imagine what an uproar this book must have created when it was first published. All in all, a very funny book.

There is a lot of the DNA of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in this book. Or, perhaps I should say, there is a lot of the DNA of Candide in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Both books have a similar theme: life is random, often absurd; it defies our ability to use philosophy to make sense out of nonsense; and travel is the mechanism by which we discover the variability of this absurdity.

In this book, we also have a philosophical conversation: between pessimism and optimism. Throughout the book, philosophers themselves are depicted as the lowest form of life. Those who have mastered the art of getting by, without the impediment of metaphysics, do much better. Candide's schoolyard tutor Pangloss is the symbol of optimism -- and for it, he is submitted to all kinds of miseries (slavery, syphilis, among others). Martin, the symbol of pessimism, a down and out academic, is not spared indignities but seems to come out of the tale much more unscathed. Perhaps because he suffered his pains before he meets Candide -- the pains that serve as the source of his pessimism. One could argue that Martin actually isn't the opposite of Pangloss. He is, after all, a self-described Manichean, which means he believes in good and evil...not just evil. But for the most part, Candide treats Martin as Pangloss's opposite. And while poor Panglossian optimism often gets the worst of it throughout the tale, one could argue that that old pedant gets the last laugh in the end...as things do sort of work out for everyone...though whether this is the best of all possible worlds is up for debate.

I read this book for the first time as a high school student, but didn't remember too much about it (certainly not as much as I remember Hitchhiker's Guide). This book is of great instructional value for youngsters. Instead of grand theories of life, we get a hilarious presentation of the school of "hard knocks". Poor Candide and his group are subjected to: robbery, theft, fraud, rape, war, religious persecution, overbearing bureaucracy, natural disaster, disease...I'm sure I'm leaving a few things out. But an important theme during these trials is that the nonsense metaphysics of scholars and theologians often leave these characters more vulnerable than they otherwise would be. And it is indeed lowly servants, who have themselves been through the school of hard knocks, who have superior advice for our adventurers.

Thus, a practical lesson is to be had from this book: philosophy is good for entertainment, but if you wish to survive the vagaries of life, get yourself a compatriot or two who has experience with the hardships of life (good practical experience)...and, above all, read the classics! Especially those that focus on issues of practical wisdom and life experience.

Each and every single sentence in this book is dripping with satire – going through the footnotes took almost as long as reading the main thing. I am glad I did go through them, as they provide a rich historical background that allows one to understand exactly how Voltaire was coming at his story. There are shots taken at any and everyone, including publishers in Holland, Parisians, and Rousseau.

Candide’s journey is exhausting. His shitty luck is exhausting. The trials and tribulations he (and those close to him) go through are exhausting. His rigid appraisal of the world (taken wholesale from Pangloss) is exhausting. There is merit in having a philosophy with which one goes about interacting with the world. Here, Voltaire demonstrates that this philosophy should not be a filter that screens incoming experience, but rather an adaptable and dynamic mould that fits experience – in other words, one’s personal philosophy should not alter experience irrevocably, but rather imbue experience with just enough tools necessary to render it acceptable. If all that fails? Ignore it all and go into your garage, grab a nice piece of wood, and carve a wooden squirrel. Hone it. Sand it. Make it beautiful. You haven’t addressed experience – sure. But you have achieved peace. And that’s all that matters, right?

Voltaire est avant tout l’auteur d’une très abondante correspondance — des dizaines de milliers de lettres sur divers sujets philosophiques, adressées à tout le gratin européen de l’époque, aujourd’hui disponibles en treize gros volumes dans la Pléiade. Mais, (et sans doute lui-même ne s’en doutait-il pas), les écrits par lesquels il est passé à la postérité sont une série de petits romans de divertissement : Micromégas, Zadig, L'Ingénu, etc. Et parmi ceux-ci, le plus célèbre est, évidemment, Candide.

A vrai dire, on comprend pourquoi. Il s’agit d’une nouvelle philosophique, sans rien pourtant de spéculatif, aucune argumentation compliquée : c’est avant tout une histoire cocasse et divertissante, qui avance vitement et va droit au but. Combien d’auteurs moins talentueux se seraient étalés sur des centaines de pages sans pour autant être aussi profonds et amusants !

Candide est une sorte de Bildungsroman avant la lettre : le jeune Candide est un bâtard élevé dans un château de Westphalie. Son percepteur, le Dr Pangloss, lui enseigne « qu’il n’y a point d’effet sans cause, et que, dans ce meilleur des mondes possibles, le château de monseigneur le baron [est] le plus beau des châteaux et madame la meilleure des baronnes possibles » (Pléiade, p. 146). Peu après, Candide s’envoie en l’air avec Cunégonde, la plus appétissante des filles de baron possible, et est renvoyé illico avec un coup de pied au derrière.

S’ensuit une série d’évènement proprement désastreux, qui l’éloignent de son pays natal et de Mlle Cunégonde, lui font faire un demi-tour du monde et connaître la boucherie guerrière, la maladie, la torture, les exécutions capitales, les catastrophes naturelles (dont le tremblement de terre de Lisbonne de 1755), le meurtre, le viol, le cannibalisme, l’esclavage, les galères, j’en passe et des meilleures. Moyennant quoi, les préceptes optimistes du bon Pangloss sont mis à rude épreuve, si bien que Candide finit par trouver, par lui-même, une sorte de sagesse résignée. Le roman, en effet s’achève par cette fameuse allusion à Épicure : « mais il faut cultiver notre jardin » (p. 233).

Il y a, au fond, dans l’histoire de Candide quittant son château et découvrant la souffrance et la mort, quelque chose qui rappelle la jeunesse du Bouddha (la légende du prince Siddhartha Gautama qui, lui aussi, sortit de son château…). Au bout du compte, ces deux personnages finissent par trouver, pour l’un l’illumination céleste, pour l’autre une forme de lucidité terrestre.

A l’évidence, Candide est un pied de nez au système philosophique de Leibniz qui, pour faire court, dans ses Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l'homme et l'origine du mal, spéculait sur le fait que, parmi l’infinité des mondes possibles, celui où nous sommes est, en effet, le meilleur. Voltaire, considérant cette théorie ahurissante, écrivait déjà, dans une lettre au leibnizien Kahle : « Quand vous aurez aussi démontré, en vers ou autrement, pourquoi tant d’hommes s’égorgent dans le meilleur des mondes possibles, je vous serai très obligé. »

Ce faisant, à travers ce petit roman, Voltaire fait également assaut au Dieu de la religion chrétienne, que l’omniprésence du Mal dans le monde semble devoir réfuter. Plus encore, Candide, avec ses Inquisiteurs, ses autodafés, ses prêtres corrompus et ses moines dissolus, est une attaque en règle contre l’Église catholique. Pas étonnant que, au milieu du XVIIIème, ce roman ait senti quelque peu le souffre…

Je ne serais pas surpris d’apprendre que Voltaire ait lu Jonathan Swift, tant ils partagent le même ton tout à la fois mordant, satirique, fantaisiste et spirituel. L’influence des romans picaresques espagnols (Don Quichotte ?) et des Mille et une nuits (dans la traduction de Galland) est peut-être également sensible dans la manière dont Voltaire construit son récit.

Il semble enfin possible que Candide ait exercé une influence sur Sade — Justine est une sorte d’avatar de Candide, qui subit toute sortes d’outrages, mais qui continue malgré tout de philosopher avec ses agresseurs. Dans un autre genre, Thackeray s’est peut-être aussi inspiré de Voltaire — son Barry Lyndon est encore un autre rejeton de Candide, certes plus arriviste et moins philosophe. Plus près de nous, des romans comme Catch-22, Slaughterhouse-Five ou The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sont aussi de lointains descendants de Candide.

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 you nowhere
If you wanna sell discs
Clever never made no one rich
It doesn't appeal to the teenage market
The teenage market!"

For those of you familiar with his work, you'll be able to directly attribute the lines above to the inimitable Mr Tim Minchin. So, Tim Minchin exerted his comedy super powers and prompted me to read a classic novel. Ah my English teacher would be so proud.

Candide is supposed to be one of the great satires of period (written c1759). As with current times, Voltaire lived in a period of great turmoil; politics, geology and religion were all highly volatile at this time and it was these tumultuous events which inspired this short novella.

Basically Candide trots around the place, sucking up knowledge, looking for answers and finding many harsh truths along the route. Life is a journey... life is not fair... life takes many unfortunate turns over which you have no control... all themes dealt with here.

Apparently Candide is a really big deal. Me? I didn't really get it. But then maybe I just didn't give it a chance or properly examine its historic context.

Given the recent events in Britain, the riots in London, Liverpool and Manchester I'm prompted to wonder if they'll inspire any great literature. Well, I doubt anyone near me will be sitting down and writing the next Candide or the modern equivalent, but only time will tell.

(review in English below)

Não podia ter ficado mais surpreendida com esta leitura!
Não sei exactamente o que esperava, mas seguramente não era isto!
Mais uma vez, os clássicos a revelarem-se bastante diferentes das ideias preconcebidas que temos (ou tenho) deles.

Esta é uma história de aventuras, com Cândido por protagonista, na qual tudo acontece, desde os acasos mais afortunados até às desgraças mais terríveis, por vezes a fazer-me lembrar as Mil e Uma Noites, ou as histórias de Emilio Salgari.

Foi particularmente interessante ler o episódio em que Cândido está a chegar de barco a Lisboa, precisamente quando se dá o terramoto de 1755 (ocorrido alguns anos antes de Voltaire escrever este livro), e os acontecimentos que lhe sucedem.

Mas toda a história tem subjacente diversas questões filosóficas, sendo a mais óbvia a teoria de Leibniz - o optimismo - que é constantemente posta em causa devido ao que vai acontecendo ao longo da narrativa.

Voltaire utiliza sobretudo a ironia, descrevendo cenas e atitudes mirabolantes, para criticar e ridicularizar diversos aspectos e costumes sociais, religiosos, económicos e militares da época.

Esta edição tem quase duzentas notas de rodapé, explicando praticamente todas as referências a lugares, personagens e acontecimentos históricos e, naturalmente, teorias filosóficas. Embora muito instrutivas (apesar de por vezes confusas), estas notas acabaram por se revelar excessivas, tornando a leitura pouco fluida.

No cômputo geral, não posso dizer que tenha ficado fascinada. Percebo o que Voltaire quis fazer e acho que o fez bem, mas não me encheu as medidas...

Apesar disso, recomendo a toda a gente (há cenas e descrições muito violentas, mas é tudo tão teatral e absurdo que não chega a impressionar), até porque é uma obra curta e acaba por ser um trabalho seminal, que influenciou muitos outros escritores.

I couldn't have been more surprised by this reading!
I'm not quite sure what I had expected, but it certainly wasn't this!
Once again, a classic turning out to be very different from the preconceived ideas we (or I) have about them.

This is an adventure story, with Candide as our protagonist, in which everything happens, from the most fortunate random events to the most terrible adversities, sometimes reminding me of the 1001 Nights or Emilio Salgari stories.

It was particularly interesting to read about the arrival of Candide to Lisbon by boat, precisely when the earthquake of 1755 takes place (a few years before Voltaire wrote this book), and the following events.

But the whole story has subjacent philosophical issues, the most obvious being Leibniz theory on optimism, which is incessantly called into question because of what happens along the narrative.

Voltaire uses mainly irony, describing unconceivable scenes and behaviours with the aim of criticizing and mocking several social, religious, economic and military aspects of that time.

This edition has almost 200 footnotes, explaining nearly all the references to places, historical characters, events and, of course, philosophical theories. Although these are highly informative (even if sometimes confusing), they end up being excessive, making for a less fluid reading.

All in all, I can't say I was fascinated. I understand what Voltaire meant to do and I think he did it well, but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea...

In spite of that, I recommend it to everyone. There are some violent scenes and descriptions, but it's all very theatrical and absurd so it's not really disgusting. It's a very short book, but it's a seminal work, which has influenced many other writers.

n  “This is the best of all possible worlds.”
― Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnizn

You know what really irritates me?  Over the top optimism due to a belief that everything happens according to some divine plan.  'Oh, you just lost your home in a hurricane?  Well, "God" has a plan and a purpose for this. Just you wait, someday you'll be thankful this happened!'   'Oh, your child has blood cancer and will die a horrific death?  Well, "God" works in mysterious ways but his will is always best.'  

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

Excuse the language, but really!  Instead of feeling compassion for others or trying to do something to actually help them, some people spout off these insensitive platitudes that can only make the one suffering feel worse.  Hey, it's your own fault if you can't see the bright side in this!  Everyone in your family just died?  Well... but God is good!  

Of course, there are those who choose to see their own suffering in this light and that's fine and dandy if it helps you to believe that some good (cough, cough) god wants you to suffer.  If you can find meaning in your suffering, I'm glad for you.  Just please don't try to tell others to do the same.  

You know who else had a problem with this idea?  Voltaire did.  The German philosopher Leibniz had some crazy notion that this is the best of all possible worlds and everything that happens is the best that can be.  



Yeeeehhhh riiiiggghhhttt..... You can't imagine a world, say, I don't know, without suffering??  That wouldn't be better than one with suffering??

Leibniz assumed that the world and all in it is created by an omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-benevolent god; ergo, everything that happens is the best that can be. Well, Herr Leibniz, forgive me for saying but this god of yours can't possibly have all three of those qualities and have created the world as it is. Even I can imagine something much better and I'm not omniscient. Simply removing suffering would be a good start. But I digress.

Voltaire's line of reasoning was more along my own than that of Liebniz's and so he did what anyone would do who takes issue with such a batshit idea.  He wrote a book mocking it.  OK, maybe not anyone would do that, but someone who can write books and who loves satire?  Sure.

Thus we have Candide. In it, our eponymous protagonist is a follower of Pangloss, a philosopher who, like Leibniz, avers that this is the best of all possible worlds.  It's the one we have and a good god created it; therefore, it must be the best.  Pangloss, like Liebniz, suffers from a lack of imagination and critical thinking skills.

Our poor protagonist is exiled from his home for daring to love a woman who is above his class.  That, my friends, is just the beginning of his problems.  After he witnesses Pangloss being hanged, he embarks on a journey that is one mishap and tragedy after another.  Everyone he comes into contact with has an ever worse story to tell.  Indeed, there is not one person who doesn't suffer horrific things.

At first Candide clings to his master's teachings that this is the best of all possible worlds and thus one should be thankful for the wrongs they endure.  Gradually though, as he witnesses ever increasing tragedies and suffering, he begins to question this premise.  

I really enjoyed this novel, the wit and outrageousness.  The clever storytelling.   The preposterous events and the maturation of young Candide's mind.  Not quite a 5 star novel, but still a very worthwhile and enjoyable read.

(An added benefit is that I learned a couple new words.  In case you are interested, they are:
•Moiety:  one of two equal parts
•Atrabilious:  given to or marked by melancholy
~Definitions by Merriam-Webster.  Thanks, Voltaire and M-W!)

(November 2019 classic-of-the-month)