Candide by Voltaire (#9, French Lit)

I am not exactly sure where to start with Candide. I found it amusing, disturbing, thought provoking, and witty. I am startled that I have heard pretty much nothing about either Candide or Voltaire in my lifetime. How have I gone through so many years of education, and even more reading on my own, and never had anyone mention Voltaire?

My goal in 2008 is not quantity, but rather quality--I want to get more out of the book than just finishing it, so I have been doing some research before, during, and after finishing each book. The synopsis on Wikpedia for Candide is almost as long as the book itself! Such a little book has caused quite the scandal over the years. I am always interested in reading books that have been on the Church "do not read" list.

I struggled with the theme behind Candide--the philosophy of optimism. Candide is a young man on a journey, and bad, horrible, terrible, utterly catastrophic things continue to happen to him and everyone he meets. But, when he was younger he was taught by a wise teacher, Pangloss, that everything about the world is perfect, and everything that happens is meant to happen, so he is continually trying to rationalize the evils he encounters. I am optimistic, I believe everything happens for a reason--so I had to figure out what it was about Pangloss' philosophy that is flawed. So basically Candide and I were on the same philosophical journey together from beginning to end. But lucky for me, I didn't encounter earthquakes, storms at sea, whippings, hangings, civil wars, syphilis and many, many more unimaginable events. So unimaginable you have to laugh--really, picture this: four soldiers want to rape you because you are so beautiful, and in the end you don't actually get raped, rather you have been cleanly ripped into four pieces. That's funny, right???

Read this one, it's a gem.