Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
Candide (Webster's Korean Thesaurus Edition) Paperback – February 5, 2006
Purchase options and add-ons
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
About the author
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Candide was written in 1758 by Voltaire; a French philosopher and writer. He is known for his criticism towards Christianity, more specifically the Catholic Church, and throughout Candide the development of satirical themes are evident due to this. The satire used in the story allows the reader to better understand Voltaire’s opinions towards Catholic Church as well as other religions and philosophies.
The novel is centered around the notion of philosophical optimism, an ideology associated with German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. It is the idea that everything happens for the best and that we live in the best of all possible worlds. Pangloss served as a mentor who taught Candide and Cunégonde this philosophy. Candide is the hero of the story who, throughout his travels, experiences many events and meets many people with varying ideologies and religions as him. There were questions that arose within Candide of who is right, who is wrong and if everything happens for the best, how can such terrible things happen to good people? These questions created an intriguing crash between the archetypes of Pangloss and Candide, because although Candide sees him has a wise mentor, he couldn’t help but question and and rebel against some of his teachings that he had previously lived by.
The story progressed through the use of location. Candide was born in Westphalia, Germany where he lived with the Baron, his wife, their daughter Cunegonde and their tutor Pangloss. Cunegonde and Candide were quite fond of each other, and one day where they kissed Candide was kicked out of the estate because she was a higher class than him. Once Candide leaves, he is taken by Bulgarian soldiers to travel with them, Eventually, after being mistreated and leaving them, he arrives in Holland. The plot thereafter is catastrophic in the seeing that Candide proceeded to travel to tens of places. In each place Candide experienced something new, whether it be religious oppression or notices self-righteous people of war. Although everything he experienced was clearly negative in every sense, he continues to naively live by the same idea of Optimism that Pangloss had once taught him. Candide is reunited with Pangloss, but only briefly, because both of them are whipped at the Catholic church for their varying religious views. The purpose of this was clearly satirical and contributes of Voltaire’s personal beliefs as well as how the church could be seen as contradicting to its apparently peaceful ways. Nonetheless, Candide did see this as another reason to illuminate his teachings from Pangloss and how this all happened for the best.
All the events that would follow were also tragic. From having to escape Holland, reuniting with Cunegonde but finding out the hardships she faced that were sexually oppressive, being shipwrecked in Lisbon, meeting Cacambo and going to El Dorado only to be utterly unsatisfied with their religion and way of life, a disastrous trip to Paris that lead to Candide losing his money, etc. All of these events came directly after another which contributes to the theme of endless hardships. For most of these situations, Candide and who ever he was with were struggling yet the clear answer for Candide was optimism and that everything that had happened up to that point had been the best possible outcome of all worlds. It is this ignorance that contributes to the overwhelming satire purposely placed in this story by Voltaire.
After purchasing and analysing Candide by Voltaire, it can be said that it was rather intriguing. The use of clashing archetypes, overwhelming satire, and interesting themes ensure that the reader will definitely be entertained. All of these element combine to create a rather spontaneous story. I recommend Candide for anyone curious about this period in history and would enjoy a glimpse into the life of Candide; a young man who although faces the most unfortunate events, remains as optimistic as can be until the end.
Ok the Blah Blah Blah Part: A German natural philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646 – 1716 argued that as God is a loving God and the maker of all things, the reality we live in the reality of choice by a loving God and therefore we live in the best of all possible worlds. The reader is advised to remember this, The Formula. The novella is a test of this conclusion. It is perhaps something of a spoiler to tell you that Voltaire is not impressed by the arguments of this philosophical polymath.
Our story opens in a palace in Westphalia, the 18th century cultural equivalent of the poorer and less desirable quarters of an unfashionable city. Here living in relative splendor of a backwater palace we find all of our major characters. Our leading male for whom the story is titled, Candide is the illegitimate son of a relative being raised among his betters including the love of his life Cunegunda. Plus various secondary characters not necessary for this discussion.
Very quickly the misadventures begin. Candide is run from his idyllic life and never again do we see the best and the balance shall be the possible. Cunegunda survives the destruction of her home and family and begins her adventures, more about anon.
Without listing the various evils and hurts our hero suffers; a few points. Everything he sees and suffers that argue against the 18th century being the best of all possible are things that actually happened. Evil is afoot in many forms often lead by seniors within the Catholic Church. Not to limit this to a shamming of the Church there is evil petty and grand from treacherous friends and servants to local politicals and businessmen. It is argued that the evil is a necessary thing to maintain a principal of proportionality but this case is made by the quickly dismissible Panglos (Pan=all Glos=talk) the broadly shamed stand-in for Leibniz.
There will be for Candide one happy interval in a land much like the Utopia dreamed up by friend to Voltaire, Thomas More. Later Candide will fall in with and benefit from friendship with cynical and more practical Martin, Martin Luther perhaps.
It is easy to fixate on the story of Candide and forget about Cunegunda. She is also subject to all of the vagaries of her sex. Instead of being sold off, I mean married off to some neighboring lordling in a commercial marriage, she is pushed in to a number of variations in the the other kinds of commerce based on young female flesh. At her side is a loyal old woman with but one buttock. Between the two we are regaled with the funny, only not so funny variations of evils set aside for 18th Century womankind.
So 75 pages of violence , treachery, petty and great wrongdoings and we are supposed to laugh? Ok maybe grim grins?
I suggest that Voltaire pretty much dismisses our magic ‘best of all possible…’ formula very quickly. The rest is a plea for tolerance and a condemnation of extremism. Especially were the most doctrinaire are also unlikely to be practicing much else that is admirable. Also the conclusion is not so much a refutation of The Formula, as it is a case for a simpler and bucolic life.
Final note on my edition. The quality of the translation is not something I can address. I can say that I liked the presence of so many extra pages of scholarly material.