He is mistreated and eventually escapes to Holland. Voltaire follows the pattern of adventure novels that travel all over and have the main characters involved in all sorts of nearly impossible activities.įirst Candide is driven out of the estate house for having been caught kissing Cunegonde, who is way above him in “station.” However, he is saved by an invading king and goes off to Bulgar with him. The plot is sort of one catastrophe after the next, each one being understood by Candide as the best possible outcome. They have a tutor, Pangloss, who teachings the view of the world that this is the best possible world, the view associated with Leibnitz, and Candide subscribes to a naïve version of the theory.

They have a daughter, Cunegonde whom Candide adores as she does him. His parentage is uncertain, but he is living with Baron Thunder-ten-trockh and his wife. The novel, however, is a satire in which Voltaire is not so much tweaking the philosophical theory, but the more popular (and totally incorrect) public interpretation of Leibnitz’s work.Ĭandide was born in Westphalia in Germany. He held that this is the most perfect of all possible worlds. The story centers around the philosophical notion associated with the famous German philosopher, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. There were two famous earthquakes of the time, in 1746 in Lima and 1755 in Lisbon. Earthquakes play a role in the story and they were fresh in peoples’ minds.

The novel was written in 1758 when Voltaire was 64 and famous. New York: Penguin Books, from the 1947 edition, date not given Book review - By Voltaire – CANDIDE Reviews of Nobel Prize winner

Candide book