The book deals with a number of themes but the one that seems to emerge the most often is Voltaire's deconstcruction of the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds and that everything works out for the best in the end (this was apparently a popular idea at the time expounded by a number of philosophers including Leibniz). Voltaire uses some very imaginative occurances to illustrate his points and it is within these that most of the books humour is found.

This is however not a book of despair as Voltaire, like Paine and Newton was a deist (i.e. they beilieved in God and hoped for something better in the next life but that is all - no dogma etc), so towards the end of the book Voltaire suggests ways in which people can occupy themselves satisfactorily in spite of lifes unpleasantries......he doesn't quite go as far as solving the riddle of existence though. Shame.

In addition, Voltaire manages to cram masses of story into very few pages but in a way that is still immensly readable. I think the only other author I have come across who manages to do that so beautifully is Bohumil Hrabal.


Delicious Irony Amidst Swift-Like Satire   September 1, 2004
 32 out of 36 found this review helpful

Ever since philosophers began thinking about the meaning of life, a favorite question has been "Why do bad things happen to good people?". In Voltaire's day, this issue was primarily pursued either from the perspective of faith (everything that happens is God's will and must be for Divine purpose) or of reason (What do these events mean to you, as you interpret them subjectively?). Infuriated by the reaction by some members of the church to a horrible loss of life from an earthquake in Lisbon, Voltaire wrote this hard-biting satire of the human condition to explore these questions.

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?


lyrical and funny   April 7, 2003
 8 out of 11 found this review helpful

a delightful book. short, sharp, snappy and sadistic. read it in a day or so and wish that stanley kubrick could have made a movie of it. a superb satire and a brilliant story too


Biting satire from a political animal.   December 1, 2002
 16 out of 19 found this review helpful

Candide is a true populist masterpiece. Salacious, insidious, and refreshingly free, Voltaire's ubiquitous cynicism provides the ultimate defence of free thought. As a text-book of common-sense, it parodies beautifully some of the philosophical faiths of his time, and lambastes the incongruity of the worship of Reason which he reveals to produce a succession of unreasonable conclusions. Reason should be blindly praised only when we have all the answers, yet how can this be possible when we haven't yet asked every question?
No religion is safe. Protestant schism, Catholic dogma, and philosophical mantras all suffer in a cacophony of irony, the ostensible flippancy of which is simply a veil for a web of observational brilliance. After all, Voltaire is a superb observational comic: more satirically charged than Swift, with the outrage of Monty Python and the caustics of Spike Milligan. And yet so much more clever. His ability to destroy an empty argument is always clear and impressive, even though we are never immediately aware of how he did it. Voltaire’s vision for inconsistency is unique.
Adorned with rape, scandal, and brutal humour, Voltaire’s work is a paragon of how tabloid literature would appear in an intellectual’s wet-dream. And for such a short volume, Candide provides some of the greatest value-for-money known to man. There is enough from 100 pages to last a lifetime, whatever your background. For those who are a little familiar with 18th Century philosophy, politics and war, the content is an irrepressible summary of the mania of the age. For everyone else, this is a timeless tome on humanity: its frivolities, its fortunes, and its failings. Read it.