Candide By Voltaire

Utilisation scolaire, aucun souci.

During the early years of Saturday Night Live, Gilda Radner would often appear during the Weekend Update segment as Roseanne Roseannadanna who would respond to a letter from Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey. At the end of her segment, she would say to the Weekend Update host, Jane Curtin, something like the following.

“Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it’s always something! If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Either you’re depressed at Christmas or you got toilet paper hangin’ from your shoe!”

For Candide, it isn’t one thing or another; it is one thing after another. He enjoys life in a castle with a Baron’s family. His tutor, Pangloss, teaches Candide the philosophy that all is for the best. Candide’s life teaches him otherwise, but he continues to believe what Pangloss told him. After Candide kisses the hand of the Baron’s daughter, Lady Cunegonde, he is literally kicked out of the castle. Then, after being penniless and dying of hunger, he is rescued by two men in blue who say that Candide is a well built young man who is just the right height. They put him into the army of the Bulgars. After taking a walk one day, he is given his choice of punishments. He eventually escapes but then runs into another problem. This is the life of Candide throughout the book. He is up and then down and then up and then down and so on. Poor Candide has more ups and downs than a rollercoaster!

Voltaire wrote Candide as a satire. It isn’t a straightforward adventure novel. You can tell that from the absurdity of situations. In Candide, Voltaire attacked the doctrine of philosophic optimism. Also, Voltaire’s dislike or contempt or generally bad opinion of religious figures is obvious from the writing. Voltaire’s other experiences in life are reflected in the book. You can get some of the context from the fourteen notes at the back of the book. However, it is helpful to read a study guide concurrently with the novel. I chose Cliff’s Notes but there are others which you can choose. I actually found an error in Cliff’s Notes. In one chapter, while Candide is on a French ship, he sees two other ships engaged in battle. In the novel, it says they are Dutch and German ships. Cliff’s Notes indicates that one of those two other ships is French. Actually, the French ship is the ship on which Candide is traveling.

The music for various stage performances can sometimes be described by a single word. For one military oriented work, I think of the word “majestic.” For a ballet like Sleeping Beauty with dancers flowing across the stage, I think of the word “romantic” or “sweeping.” The overture of the operetta Candide, based on the novel and with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, makes me think of the word “frantic.” That is how the life of Candide seems to me — frantic.

I can’t read French, so, like most people, I read a translation of Candide. A little research showed that there are variations in words and phrases in different editions of the book. I suppose that is inevitable when a book is originally written in a language other than English. At the beginning of the Bantam Classic edition is “The Sage of Ferney: An Appreciation” by André Maurois. Ferney is the retreat where Voltaire spent his old age. This introductory section was very informative. Other editions probably have different scholarly material. Whatever edition you choose to read, I think that you will enjoy the novel Candide.

Acquistato per mia figlia che si è dichiarata soddisfatta

Recently I heard a reference to Voltaire’s ‘Candide’ and it occurred to me that I have omitted the works of Voltaire from my reading. I hastened to correct the matter by choosing a copy of Candide from Kindles selection of one dozen versions, both in English and French. I obviously bought an English version, not being very conversant in French. I’m glad I did; it is indeed interesting reading. I reckon to finish it before the week-end. It is an amusing read, think Gulliver’s Travels, Sindbad the Sailor or Alice, both in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. With naked maidens taking monkey lovers and El Dorado, you have to put your credulity on hold. Baron Münchhausen comes to mind.