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?


source for my comic novel, "A Visit From Voltaire"   June 4, 2003
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Of course, this is the One that everybody will have read if they've read Voltaire. But ever notice how hard it is for people to tell you what Candide was really about? What was Voltaire the Philosopher's "philosophy?" Something about "Cultivating your garden?" They'll recall the old woman who donated part of her derriere to cannibals, or Cunegonde's passage as a high-class courtesan but.." After three years of research, I realized that these disjointed episodes acquired so much more meaning if read against the political and religious context of the day. Voltaire was, after all, satirizing particular people and popular reactions to events--wars, natural disasters, the Church misjudgements of his time, etc. Knowing a little about Voltaire's "issues" helped some of the two-dimensional characters lift off--some of them are satires of critics and enemy essayists that drew his ever-ready venom, others betray references to the royal behavior he himself often kowtowed to, (he was a bit of a kiss-ass where monarchy was concerned!) I'd recommend people also check out the Portable Voltaire, "Voltaire in Love," and the recent "Voltaire in Exile" if they're doing background reading, and Vol. Nine of Will and Ariel Durant's History of Civilization--The Age of Voltaire-- if they're an addict like me with Vol. Ten, The Age of Rousseau to extend the tour. Also see my list posted on amazon, "Voltaire and His Friends." They might even end up "living with the ghost of Voltaire" as I did and writing a comedy of their own...Like the kings sent adrift in Voltaire's satirical boat, Bon Voyage!
Dinah Lee Küng, "A Visit From Voltaire", "Under Their Skin"


An excellent compilation of tales from the master of dry wit   February 22, 2002
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Voltaires seminal tragi-comedic classic Candide finds itself amongst other worthy tales in this cracking compilation of some of the authors most witty writing. Candide once again stands proud as a figure head of immpecable literary exectution, the tale of a tragedy struck young man who never fails to persevere. A title that worthy of a position in any bookshelf.


Some great writings from one of the greatest freethinkers.   December 4, 2000
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

Voltaire's works never cease to enlighten and entertain. The ones in Candide and other stories are among his greatest pieces.

Candide itself is a great story that attacks Liebniz' theory that "in the best of all possible worlds, all things are for the best." By showing a man travelling through the world amidst chaos and ruin to find his true love. In Micromegas, he attacks the Geocentric theory and the belief that man is God's finest and greatest creation by a visit from two aliens to Earth. The other stories all display Voltaire's rapier wit, humanist and liberal outlook and his disgust at organised religion and the violent religious wars around him. His works haven't lost their greatness through the centuries since being penned.