Description

Witty and caustic, Candide has ranked as one of the world’s great satires since its first publication in 1759. In the story of the trials and travails of the youthful Candide, his mentor Dr. Pangloss, and a host of other characters, Voltaire mercilessly satirizes and exposes romance, science, philosophy, religion, and government. A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

Description

Que signifie ce nom “Candide” : innocence de celui qui ne connaît pas le mal ou illusion du naïf qui n’a pas fait l’expérience du monde ? Voltaire joue en 1759, après le tremblement de terre de Lisbonne, sur ce double sens. Il nous fait partager les épreuves fictives d’un jeune homme simple, confronté aux leurres de l’optimisme, mais qui n’entend pas désespérer et qui en vient à une sagesse finale, mesurée et mystérieuse. Candide n’en a pas fini de nous inviter au gai savoir et à la réflexion.

Description

Young Candide is ejected from his idyllic life in a protected castle and finds himself encountering wild adventures and harsh trials that put to the test his teacher’s claim that we live in the best of all possible worlds. Honest and simple to a fault, Candide finds that a bit of romance leads only to exile and sudden immersion in a larger and more frightening world. Armed with the optimistic teachings of his mentor Pangloss, he is soon astounded to be arrested, beaten and forced into military service. The author doesn’t spare his hero, hurling him into a shipwreck, an earthquake, a tidal wave and a city-wide wildfire in short order. Pursuing his true love and reunited with Pangloss, who interprets each new setback, no matter how horrific, as another sign that everything happens for the best, Candide refuses to abandon hope but begins to question his teacher’s bottomless optimism. An outrageous picaresque quest full of barbed observations about human behavior and belief, politics and institutions, Candide was condemned for the fiercely irreverent stance it delicately conceals beneath its hero’s guileless nature and chain of extravagant adventures. Triumphing over censorship, the book has had profound influence on philosophy and politics since its first appearance in 1759, but remains a classic that can be read for pure pleasure. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Candide is both modern and readable. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Description

Voltaire’s satire of eighteenth-century Europe, hailed as one of the most influential works in the Western canon Candide’s misfortunes begin when his uncle, a German baron, banishes him for kissing the baron’s daughter, Cunégonde. Forced to make his own way in the world, Candide goes from conscription in the Bulgar army, to Lisbon, after a harrowing voyage by sea, to the tutelage of the Enlightenment philosopher Pangloss. After an unexpected reunion with his beloved Cunégonde, Candide finds that further misadventure awaits, first through South America and then back in Europe, where he settles in the countryside. Among the most widely renowned texts of western literature, Candide lives on two hundred fifty years since its first publication as a supreme example of political, philosophical, and religious satire whose wit and power of observation have influenced writers for generations. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Description

The philosophical problem of evil—that a supposedly good God could allow terrible human suffering—troubled the minds of eighteenth-century thinkers as it troubles us today. Voltaire’s classic novel Candide relates the misadventures of a young optimist who leaves his sheltered childhood to find his way in a cruel and irrational world. Fast-paced and full of dark humor, the novel mocks the suggestion that “all is well” and challenges us to create a better world.

This Broadview Edition follows the text of a 1759 English translation that was released concurrently with Voltaire’s first French edition. Candide is supplemented by Voltaire’s most important poetic and humanistic writings on God and evil, the Poem upon the Destruction of Lisbon and We Must Take Sides. The editor’s introduction situates the novel in its philosophical and intellectual setting; the appendices include other writings by Voltaire, as well as related writings by Bayle, Leibniz, Pope, Rousseau, and others that place the work in its poetic, philosophical, and humanistic contexts.

Description

Edition enrichie (Introduction, notes, documents, chronologie et bibliographie) Suivi de L’Histoire des voyages de Scarmentado et de Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne. Candide nous conte les mésaventures d’un voyageur philosophe qui affronte les horreurs de la guerre et les sanglants caprices de la Nature ; qui connaît les désillusions de l’amour et découvre les turpitudes de ses semblables, faisant à l’occasion l’expérience de leurs dangereuses fantaisies. Pourtant si l’homme est un bien méchant animal et si l’existence n’est qu’une cascade de catastrophes, est-ce une raison pour que le héros perde sa sérénité et le récit son allégresse ? Sous la forme d’une ironique fiction, Candide propose une réflexion souriante sur l’omniprésence de la déraison qui puise sa force aux sources vives d’une expérience humaine, celle de l’auteur. Candide, on l’a dit, ce sont les « Confessions » de Voltaire, et c’est en cela qu’il nous émeut. Mais ce « roman d’apprentissage » est aussi – et peut-être surtout – un festival merveilleusement ordonné de drôlerie et de fantaisie sarcastique, ruisselant d’un immense savoir maîtrisé qui ne dédaigne jamais de porter le rire jusqu’au sublime. C’est en cela qu’il nous éblouit et qu’il nous charme. Edition de Sylviane Léoni.