Candide is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers. Through Candide, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. The book was widely banned to the public because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition, and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté.
About Candide in brief
Candide is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers. Through Candide, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. Candide is recognized as Voltaire’s magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon. It is among the most frequently taught works of French literature. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, tsunami, and resulting fires of All Saints’ Day, had a strong influence on theologians of the day and on Voltaire, who was himself disillusioned by them. The earthquake had an especially large effect on the contemporary doctrine of optimism, a philosophical system which implies that such events should not occur. The book was widely banned to the public because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition, and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. The picaresque novel has a story similar to that of a more serious coming-of-age narrative. It parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is bitter and matter of fact. The events discussed in Candide are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years’ War and the 17 55 Lisbon earthquake. It may have been a source of inspiration for the protagonist of The Thirty Years War, Jakob von Christobel von Grimmelshausen and The Thirty years’ War, a 16th-century satirical novel written by Hans Christobelsen and published by Simplicius du Simplicissimus.
It has been listed as one of the 100 most influential books ever written by the British poet and literary critic Martin Seymour-Smith. In both Candide and Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne, Voltaire makes use of the Lisbon earthquake to argue this point, sarcastically describing the catastrophe as “one of the most horrible disasters in the best possible worlds” Ira Wade speculates that Voltaire might have referenced the 1755 earthquake as his primary source for learning of the Tremblement de Terre survenu à Lisbonne by Goudar apart from other contemporaneous stereotypes of the personality of the German character in the novel. The novel has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide or, The Optimist ; and Candide : Optimism. It is a short theological novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire actively rejected LeibNizian optimism after the natural disaster, convinced that if this were the best Possible World, it should surely be better than it is. The book has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. It was published in secret, and was banned for many years because of its blasphemous content.
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This page is based on the article Candide published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 20, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
