Candide, or Optimism: Or Optimism

by Francois Voltaire

Michael Wood (Introduction) and Theo Cuffe (Translator)

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Book cover for Candide, or Optimism

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'The prince of philosophical novels' John Updike

In Candide, Voltaire threw down an audacious challenge to the philosophical views of the Enlightenment to create one of the most glorious satires of the eighteenth century. His eponymous hero is an innocent young man whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own fortune. As he and his various companions roam over the world, an outrageous series of disasters - earthquakes, syphilis, the Inquisition - sorely test the young hero's optimism, holding a mirror up to all fanatics, zealots and moral reformers of humankind.

Translated and Edited by Theo Cuffe with an Introduction by Michael Wood

  • ISBN10 0140455108
  • ISBN13 9780140455106
  • Publish Date 25 May 2006 (first published 4 August 2005)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
  • Imprint Penguin Classics