Candide

Candide is one of the few examples of books that I don't mind is irreverent and has two-dimensional characters. The humor rides on the back of that. It's dark, but the melodrama and the fact that nothing seems permanent (aha, the secret commentary on the condition optimism can exist--you need nothing bad to be 100%) keeps things light and curious. My version was also from Librivox and read by a guy that was excellent at corny, cliche accents for characters from different nationalities, which fit the mood of the story.

Candide was an unexpected treat; one of those books that, if I did not know otherwise, I could say was written just for me. It was so deliciously dark and cynical, like if Charles Bukowski and Terry Pratchett had a baby, with Mark Twain as the midwife. But, of course, it pre-dates all of those writers; I found it astonishing just how fresh this 250-year-old topical satire proved to be. It is remarkably modern and, yes, candid in its views: religion, society, philosophy, slavery, hypocrisy, and so on, all get both barrels, with Voltaire always eagerly reloading after doing so. I was also (pleasantly) shocked at just how unreserved and lacking in prudishness Voltaire was when discussing sex – particularly as the book was written in the show more 18th century – but then, perhaps I shouldn't have been: he was a Frenchman after all.

The most unsolicited of my delights from Candide came from the fact that it was also a good adventure story, taking Candide and his band of misfits on a globe-trotting bildungsroman quest around the world: a romping antecedent to the likes of Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Pratchett's Discworld novels. Candide even stumbles across the mythical city of El Dorado, where gold and precious stones are so plentiful they lie in the streets, and whose inhabitants are bemused by their visitors' lust for their 'pebbles' and 'yellow dust'. That Voltaire managed to provide such diverse and satisfying delights in such a short novel (about 140 pages) is to be marvelled at; Candide is one of those rare 'classics' that defies the aura of stuffiness that the genre often suggests.

Despite being a philosophical satire, I was also pleased at how jargon-free Candide remained. This is a short novel the very epitome of brevity: a thoroughly delightful romp that breezes by in no time. The philosophical angle is easy enough to understand even for a layman and it is never boring, for Voltaire is deftly exposing the weaknesses of philosophical theories by pointing out their absurdities, not by critiquing them. Witness the following, after the character Candide is press-ganged into the army, exposing the limits of 'free will' in a world where cruelty and oppression is ever-present:

The bewildered Candide was still rather in the dark about his heroism. One fine spring morning he took it into his head to decamp and walked straight off, thinking it a privilege common to man and beast to use his legs when he wanted. But he had not gone six miles before he was caught, bound, and thrown into a dungeon by four other six-foot heroes. At the court martial he was graciously permitted to choose between being flogged thirty-six times by the whole regiment or having twelve bullets in his brain. It was useless to declare his belief in Free Will and say he wanted neither; he had to make his choice." (pg. 24).

(As a side note, one could easily replace the name 'Candide' with 'Huck Finn' or 'Rincewind' there.) The main thrust of Voltaire's book is not an advocacy of any certain philosophy; rather, it is to try and stop people becoming complacent. Voltaire is satirising the argument that ours is the best of all possible worlds; the argument which claims that when bad things happen they still contribute to the greater good or to the divine plan. Many will note that this is still a view prevalent amongst some woolly-minded folk nowadays. (Candide delivers a revealing definition of optimism on page 86 – "The passion for maintaining that all is right when all goes wrong with us." – which would be worthy of addition to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.) Voltaire correctly recognises that this allows people to become complacent; it allows them not to try and make the world better themselves because what is happening, good or bad, is 'part of the plan'. But, as Candide realises at the end of his adventure, "we must go and work in the garden." It will only grow if we work at it; if we pull out the weeds and cultivate the flowers and crops. That's a message we all need reminding of from time to time, and I guarantee you'll never have as much fun learning it as you will here." show less

"Candide" is a black comedy whose punchlines usually involve the innocent narrator being ruthlessly whipped for no good reason whatsoever. Still, the book has a remarkably evolved worldview given its age, playing as a broad satire and loose mockery of preconceived notions of virtue, morality, faith and justice. Filled with dated allusions to current events, the book is still an enjoyable romp of a read, especially at a lightweight 90 pages.

As one of those 'must reads' I was more surprised than anything at how concise and pleasantly acidic the story of Candide was. Everything is told in a brisk and satisfying fashion as philosophical ideas are bandied about in a wonderful point/counterpoint fashion. Though Voltaire's less than admirable traits definitely seep up off the text (his rabid anti-semitism, his racism, his noxious sense of white male secular european Christian exceptionalism) all of these factors, remarkably, do little to mar the overall value of the story.

Candide travels through the world, and god help me I get to use the term picaresque, he witnesses, experiences, and deals out more than his fair share of horrible tragedy. But Voltaire's dexterous use of true show more satirical wit, laughing in the face of horrible atrocity by understating by simply telling it like it is, really made me imagine how fun it would have been to see Voltaire and Swift trade barbs over a few pints.

And given the brevity of the text the characters are incredibly distinct. True, they're all 'types' (cultured intellectual, the various religious movements popular in Voltaire's day and such) endemic to most satire, they still hold their own as singular voices set against naive Candide and the repeated voice of his mentor Pangloss and his this is the 'best of all worlds' philosophy which is thoroughly torn apart over the course of the story, even more so when said proponent of the philosophy experiences horrors akin to the worst imaginable and still posits his philosophy. Philosophical constancy or consistently constant delusion masked as such? Hell, I'm a cynic, I know my answer.

But Candide's answer at the very end of the text is what thrills me the most. His 'we must cultivate our garden' is wonderful in that it doesn't discount all the philosophies that have been espoused before it (from Pangloss' optimism to Martin's pessimism and all points between and beyond) but it does seem to state that all beliefs rooted in absolutism, that don't take into the drudgery and all too human day to day of most people's waking lives, are doomed to, if not fail, than at least be incredibly far from satisfactory because they root themselves so defiantly against reality and its multifarious nature by being too rigidly narrow. I don't pretend to know what Voltaire is espousing and what Candide favors, I think it would be too easy to say that constant work and maintenance is the answer as stated by the turkish man and his family near the end of the story (why would the characters continue to debate had they found the truth and solution?). Candide's ambiguity, the use of the word 'cultivate' as opposed to 'work' shows, to me at least, the potential inherent in our hands and in our world, but the, some might say, herculean fucking effort, required of this undertaking can serve as a solution in itself, though insufficient as it's only a means, not an end. I'm reminded of Camus but Voltaire doesn't seem to be saying it's pointless and try because, but he does seem to be saying that possibilities are only created from effort and strain, and are never promised, but are better than idle contemplation and building castles in the air.

All things taken together Voltaire has it's downsides, hence the good but not great score I'm giving it. It's too short, the pace can be a bit too brisk at times (but usually isn't) and there are more than a few moments where the story feels more pamphlet or treatise-like than a self contained work of literature. But what's good is excellent here. The wit and the humor are excellent partners with the philosophical fencing, making for a quick and effective piece of work that makes me more than curious about Voltaire's further oeuvre. show less

Candide has lived a pretty sheltered life in an Edenic paradise, madly in love with the Baron’s daughter Cunégonde. His mentor Professor Pangloss taught him the ways of optimism but his adventures may challenge his life philosophy. Candide is a satire from Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The book enjoyed much success, as well as a lot of controversy, being banned for religious blasphemy.

“Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.”
In Candide, Voltaire sets out to challenge the philosophical ideas of optimism, particularly the works of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. Essentially he used a stripped down idea of optimism and explores it from a religious perspective. The idea is simply, if show more there is evil in the world would that be a sign that God is not entirely good or not all-powerful?

While Voltaire wrote Candide as a parody of the classic adventure tales, it also satirised organised religion. This was the main reason the novel got banned. Throughout the book all the religious leaders were either corrupt or hypocritical and you even encounter the Pope’s own daughter within the story. Most of the Catholic priests are never celibate, the hard-line Inquisitor has a mistress, and there is a friar who is a thief, despite the fact he is a member of the Franciscan order and has taken a vow of poverty.

For me, the connection between optimism and religion was what stood out the most in Candide. The whole concept of “everything will work out for the best” reminded me of the flawed thinking of some Christians. I grew up in the church, and I have heard people say things like “God will heal me” and never go to a doctor, or “God will provide” and never look for a job. I always thought this was a terrible attitude and a misunderstanding of the Bible. So while reading Candide, I saw this come through so many time and I really enjoyed that element.

This novel was a buddy read with a fellow booktuber (Shut Your Typeface) and her problem was the sexual exploitation of women within Candide. For me I thought Voltaire was trying to demonstrate a real situation effecting woman. The problem with having mistresses, rape, sexual slavery and still wanting women to be chaste and virtuous. I really do think he was trying to show a real problem that is effecting woman; all the women in the book were victims of some form of sexual assault. I might have viewed it one way but I can see how it could be interpreted as chauvinistic and disrespectful towards woman.

There are so many other themes that show up within Candide, from resurrection, wealth, and class. So many interesting topics worth exploring, but I did not want to make this review too long. I would love to talk about the parody of adventure tales, the humour and other themes but maybe I will leave them for the next review I do of this book, after a re-read. Candide was a very interesting and surprisingly easy to read. I had a lot of fun checking this novel out and looking at the depth to be found within the pages.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/classic/candide-or-optimism-by-v... show less

What a horrific story! All of the central characters, and many others, suffer the most brutal cruelties from the first page, with only brief pauses to set up the next horror. While I do enjoy a good satire, this story made me want to quit reading.
The story might have been more enjoyable to read if the storyline were more nuanced, but the point is fully evident within the first ten pages and, in stringing it out, Voltaire merely inflicts the pain on his readers as well as his characters. Piling one misery on top of another makes Voltaire’s view of the nature of the world inescapable and affirms that there is neither reason nor consolation in philosophy. The only chance of wisdom and security seems to lie in staying home and show more cultivating one’s garden, although even this is far from secure.
Who would want to read a story of endless varieties of torture and misery if they did not lead to some outcome? This is like watching a horror movie with no resolution (and I’m not one who chooses to watch horror movies anyway). The satire might be justified if it took on a worthy target, but this storyline is not the true nature of the world. The philosophers Voltaire describes are thoughtless idiots, a false caricature that is not worth satirizing. And nor is Voltaire’s picture of the world any more realistic. While there is pain and misery in life for no purpose, most of us lead a good part of our lives in general comfort and even well-being. Even acknowledging the relative privilege I enjoy as a middle-class Canadian, I don’t think the people living in poverty or in underdeveloped countries or countries at war live lives of unrelenting pain. show less

Voltaire is still recognized as one of history's greatest satirists, and after reading Candide it's not hard to see why. Two and a half centuries later, it still has the power both to amuse and to shock.

On the surface, as has often been noted, Candide is obviously a critique of the philosophy of Liebniz, and especially of the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds and everything is as it had to be in order for this to be so (in accordance, presumably, with the plans of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent Creator). Voltaire goes quite over the top in showing the misadventures and misfortunes that befall his befuddled hero, who at first whole-heartedly buys into this "optimism."

Eventually, Candide's tale concludes with his advice show more that we should all just tend to our gardens--the precise meaning of which has been widely (and wildly) speculated about. Many take it to be a rejection of philosophy as such as being entirely useless, and we should just take a more pragmatic approach to life, though I find this interpretation untenable. More likely, given what we know about Voltaire as an Enlightenment thinker and from the content of Candide itself, it is simply a rejection of one philosophical school, namely that of rationalism. This is wider than just Liebniz, and Voltaire does target the ideas of other major rationalists (e.g., Descartes) as well. The message seems to be that philosophy is useless *when it has nothing to do with, and is in fact contradicted by, our actual experience.* The ending then suggests a much more practical sort of philosophy, like the one represented in America by Voltaire's contemporary Benjamin Franklin, but it is a philosophy nonetheless.

In the end, this is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking story that is still very relevant in today's world, and should still be required reading for everybody. show less