Before reading further, let me share a word of caution. This book is filled with human atrocities of the most gruesome sort. Anything that you can imagine could occur in war, an Inquisition, or during piracy happens in this book. If you find such matters distressing (as many will, and more should), this book will be unpleasant reading. You should find another book to read.

The book begins as Candide is raised in the household of a minor noble family in Westphalia, where he is educated by Dr. Pangloss, a student of metaphysical questions. Pangloss believes that this is the best of all possible worlds and deeply ingrains that view into his pupil. Candide is buoyed by that thought as he encounters many setbacks in the course of the book as he travels through many parts of Europe, Turkey, and South America.

All is well for Candide until he falls in love with the Baron's daughter and is caught kissing her hand by the Baron. The Baron immediately kicks Candide out of the castle (literally on the backside), and Candide's wanderings begin. Think of this as being like expulsion from the Garden of Eden for Adam. Soon the penniless Candide finds himself in the Bulgarian army, and receiving lots of beatings while he learns to drill.

The story grows more far-fetched with each subsequent incident. To the casual reader, this exaggeration can seem unnecessary and annoying. It will remind you of the most extreme parts of Swift in Gulliver's Travels and Rabelais in Gargantua and Pantagruel. But subtly, Voltaire is using the exaggeration to lure the reader into making complacent judgments about complacency itself that Voltaire wants to challenge. The result is a deliciously ironical work that undermines complacency at a more fundamental level than I have seen done elsewhere. Basically, Candide challenges any view you have about complacency that is defined in terms of the world-view of those who are complacent.

Significant changes of circumstances (good and ill) occur to all of the members of the Baron's household over the course of the story. Throughout, there is much comparing of who has had the worst luck, with much feeling sorry for oneself.

That is the surface story. Voltaire is, however, a master of misdirection. Beneath the surface, Voltaire has another purpose for the book. He also wants to expose the reader to questioning the many bad habits that people have that make matters worse for everyone. The major themes of these undercurrents are (1) competing rather than to cooperating, (2) employing inhumane means to accomplish worldly (and many spiritual) ends, (3) following expected rules of behavior to show one's superiority over others that harm and degrade others, (4) focusing on money and power rather than creating rich human relationships, (5) hypocritical behavior, and (6) pursuing ends that society approves of rather than ends that please oneself.

By the end of the story, the focus shifts again to a totally different question: How can humans achieve happiness? Then, you have to reassess what you thought about the book and what was going on in Voltaire's story. Many readers will choose to reread the book to better capture Voltaire's perspective on that final question, having been surprised by it.

Candide is one of my favorite books because it treats important philosophical questions in such an unusual way. Such unaccustomed matching of treatment and subject matters leaves an indelible impression that normal philosophical arguments can never match. Voltaire also has an amazing imagination. Few could concoct such a story (even by using illegal substances to stimulate the subconscious mind). I constantly find myself wondering what he will come up with next. The story is so absurd that it penetrates the consciousness at a very fundamental level, almost like doing improvisation. In so doing, Voltaire taps into that feeling of "what else can happen?" that overcomes us when we are at our most pessimistic. So, gradually you will find yourself identifying with the story -- even though nothing like this could ever happen to you. Like a good horror story, you are also relieved that you can read about others' troubles and can put your own into perspective. This last point is the fundamental humanity of the story. You see what a wonderful thing a kind word, a meal, or a helping hand can be. That will probably inspire you to offer those empathic actions more often.

After you have finished Candide, I suggest that you ask yourself where complacency about your life and circumstances is costing you and those you care about the potential for more health, happiness, peace, and prosperity. Then take Voltaire's solution, and look around you for those who enjoy the most of those four wonderful attributes. What do those people think and do differently from you?

...We Must Cultivate Our Garden   January 16, 2004
 33 out of 38 found this review helpful

Born in 1694, Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, the renowned Parisian satirist known simply as Voltaire was truly my kind of guy. He was a rebellious free-thinker who did not tow the societal line of unchallenged conformity. He challenged the acceptable norms of his time and went against the grain by not accepting the status quo of religious dogma; and he paid the consequences for it too. After spending time in the Bastille, a state prison that stood for the absolute despotism of the Ancient Regime, he was eventually released only on the condition that he leave France. Fortunately, his departure was not his demise, having produced many worthy efforts in satire following his exile.

Of course, his works were, in my view, a reaction to madness of the era in which he lived. Having the luxury of hindsight, which is often said to be "20/20," it seems to me that what was seen as nonconformity then, was really just sensibility and enlightenment. Born only ten years prior to the death of the great English philosopher John Locke, Voltaire lived in the same era that produced David Hume, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Isaac Newton, and Immanuel Kant. Indeed, Voltaire lived in the Age of Enlightenment.

Like Jonathan Swift (who influenced Voltaire in the genre of satire), Voltaire had the ability to tell an absurd story in the most natural manner with notable wit, clarity, and polish. As such, Candide is a very manageable read, and an enjoyable one at that; even for those with little time on their hands. It is as much a classic of satirical literature as any other ever written.

Voltaire wrote Candide at the age of sixty-five as a response, in the form of satirical mockery, to the optimism of Leibniz. "Everything is for the best in the best of worlds..." said the optimists. In Candide, both optimism and pessimism are personified and explored in the characters of the book. At the time Candide was written, Voltaire clearly had already lived a long, full life with many experiences to draw discernment from. What he witnessed and experienced in his life contradicted the philosophy and absolute certainty of the optimists; or at least, it proved to him that the optimists were only half-correct (or half-incorrect, depending on your perspective!). The duality of man, and of all the things in this world for that matter, was evident to him.

Simply put, the premise of Candide is based on a young and naive neophyte's (the title character) experiences in a harsh, rude, and cruel world. In nearly every instance, Candide's observations and experiences show him that mankind is a rather wicked animal. Accompanying these experiences are characters that embody optimism, which is personified by the character Pangloss; and pessimism is represented by the character Martin, who believes that man, "...is born to live either in convulsions of distress or the lethargy of boredom." One of the splendid qualities of this book lies in the fact that Voltaire accepted neither Martin's pessimism nor Pangloss's optimism at face value. Each perspective is explored and valued equally, allowing the reader to decide for themselves through reflective contemplation the merits of both views.

This book is without question, in my mind, a great classic. Everyone should read Voltaire's magnum opus, Candide, before they die.


Very funny, very dark classic...a must read!   January 14, 2000
 29 out of 30 found this review helpful

It is probably fair to say that there is no book that is quite like Voltaire's 'Candide'. This is a venomous satire of the 'Optimistic' philosophy and outlook of enlightenment thinkers such as Leibniz and Alexander Pope. As such, it is served well by the unique combination of repeated brutality and a deft, light touch. If that last comment doesn't make sense, then you'll just have to READ THE BOOK.

At a mere 144 pages (in this edition), this is a classic that is a breeze to read. As to the charge that this book is too "violent" or "in bad taste", I would only ask you to remember that Voltaire was furious that learned members of a "civilized" society (like Leibniz, Pope, and even Rousseau)could claim that the apparent senseless violence and mayhem wrought by disasters, war, disease, man's cruelty, etc. was actually only a part of some 'greater good' - after all, God (being perfect) could not 'logically' created anything but the 'best of all possible' universes.

Voltaire's touch is so light and understated that I defy anyone to write anything that contains a third of the violence in 'Candide' and still manages to read as breezily and somehow be genuinely funny.

But dark satire must be funny - otherwise it lapses into pedantry.

Read it - even if you do not like it, I guarantee you that it will disturb you and make you think.

And for that, we can thank Voltaire.


Satire That Endures   July 20, 2000
 26 out of 26 found this review helpful

"All is for the best...in the best of all possible worlds."

Utopia generally conjures up images of beauty, brilliance and harmony. How is it possible to conceive of the violent and brutal happenings in Candide as "the best of all possible worlds?" Our world is clearly not perfect, so isn't it more logical to conclude that all is not for the best? At least not all of the time? Such are the questions raised in Voltaire's timeless masterpiece of satire, Candide.

Candide tells the journey of a young man through the world and the realities he must face, deal with and eventually come to be defined by. During his ventures, Candide leaves behind the naive innocence of his childhood and assumes the status of an intelligent and distinguished man.

Candide was born and grew up in the castle of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, in the land of Westphalia in Germany. Soon after his mentor, the philosopher, Dr. Pangloss introduces him to the idea of extreme optimism, Candide's adventures begin as he is banned from the kingdom for kissing the Baron's beautiful daughter, Lady Cunegund.

As Candide travels through Germany, Holland, the New World and the remainder of Europe, he encounters trials and evils of every sort--war, hatred, betrayal, starvation, natural catastrophes of all kinds, in short, any and every evil to which man has ever fallen prey.

In the course of his travails, however, one thing becomes outstandingly familiar to Candide; the parallels of events that denote the universality of evil.

Finally, coming full circle, Candide settles down to cultivate his own garden and make the best of his own possible world.

As with most satire, the characters in Candide exist for one unique purpose rather than being fully fleshed out. Dr. Pangloss is the most notable. Pangloss is not present in most of Candide's adventures but he does provide the theme underlying the whole of the book. He serves to sway Candide with his one, unrelenting optimistic outlook on life.

The epitome of Pangloss's philosophical outlook, "Everything is for the best," is assimilated by Candide very early in the story. Being young, sheltered and naive at the time, Candide proceeds to live his life according to this tenet. When faced with a problem he always asks himself what Pangloss would do or say in a similar situation.

Candide, however, eventually learns to form his own opinions and concepts and thus the philosophical optimism of Dr. Pangloss is tested and challenged throughout the book.

The "Pangloss Effect" is also demonstrated through Candide's experience in El Dorado, Voltaire's fictional utopia. Candide, traveling with Cacambo, his servant, finally discovers El Dorado, the purported "perfect" place. Why would anyone ever want to leave this perfect place, Candide asks himself? His quest had been to prove the theory of optimism of Pangloss and now apparently, he had succeeded. However, all is not what it may seem, even in El Dorado, and Candide is confronted with many ironic and enigmatic questions.

As his journeys draw to a close, Candide comes to realize that it is man's almost limitless ability to accept the fate that befalls him and move on to new and better things that allows him to remain sane, happy and productive. In this sense, Candide comes to represent change and development while Pangloss remains the apex of the unchanging and inflexible.

While most satire grows stale and dated, Candide remains as fresh as it was when Voltaire wrote it. In the end, as Candide wisely shows us, in the best of all possible worlds, we all tend our gardens as best as we possibly can.


A wonderful tale -- dark and thoroughly amusing   March 17, 2000
 11 out of 14 found this review helpful

Candide is a very brief, yet wholly amusing satiric thrust at the Christian philosophy of perpetual optimism. Obviously Voltaire couldn't write anything without making a pointed statement of some sort, and in its entirety Candide is no different from his other works. It's a story, of course, but only secondarily; the writer left not a single word devoid of relevance to his point. In fact he tells his tale with very little attention to detail, only concerned with encompassing his main character's lengthy odyssey as quickly as possible. With such an approach, his sole aim was to simply get the message across. In Candide, Voltaire strives to refute the belief that we live in the best of all possible worlds. By documenting his young protagonist's horrendous sufferings and hardships, the philosopher more than implies that misfortune is certainly not part of any divine plan for us. And whether you agree with that or not, I'd still say this book manifests a great deal of provocative insight, not to mention a whole lot of dark, dark humor. I wouldn't call Candide a consistent knock-out -- most of its pages aren't quite laugh-out-loud funny -- but the whole of the story very well tickles the reader with its caustic narrative. So if you're just itching for a short read (most folks could complete this one in a single sitting, I'm sure), look no further. While it may be of very petite proportions, Candide is unarguably a literary classic, as entertaining and surprising and clever as one would hope.