Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Candide by Voltaire
Add Candide to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Candide

or, Optimism

By Voltaire
Introduction by Diane Johnson
Translated by Peter Constantine

By Voltaire
Introduction by Diane Johnson
Translated by Peter Constantine

By Voltaire

By Voltaire

By Voltaire

By Voltaire

Best Seller

Part of Modern Library Classics

Paperback $19.00

Oct 11, 2005 | ISBN 9780812972016

Mass Market Paperback $5.95

Apr 01, 1984 | ISBN 9780553211665

Ebook $1.99

Aug 26, 2003 | ISBN 9780553897999

All Formats
+
    Candide by Voltaire
    Ebook
    Aug 26, 2003 | ISBN 9780553897999

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (2) +
    • $19.00

      Oct 11, 2005 | ISBN 9780812972016

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $5.95

      Apr 01, 1984 | ISBN 9780553211665

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Aug 26, 2003 | ISBN 9780553897999

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About Candide

    In this splendid new translation of Voltaire’s satiric masterpiece, all the celebrated wit, irony, and trenchant social commentary of one of the great works of the Enlightenment is restored and refreshed.

    Voltaire may have cast a jaundiced eye on eighteenth-century Europe–a place that was definitely not the “best of all possible worlds.” But amid its decadent society, despotic rulers, civil and religious wars, and other ills, Voltaire found a mother lode of comic material. And this is why Peter Constantine’s thoughtful translation is such a pleasure, presenting all the book’s subtlety and ribald joys precisely as Voltaire had intended.

    The globe-trotting misadventures of the youthful Candide; his tutor, Dr. Pangloss; Martin, and the exceptionally trouble-prone object of Candide’s affections, Cunégonde, as they brave exile, destitution, cannibals, and numerous deprivation, provoke both belly laughs and deep contemplation about the roles of hope and suffering in human life.

    The transformation of Candide’s outlook from panglossian optimism to realism neatly lays out Voltaire’s philosophy–that even in Utopia, life is less about happiness than survival–but not before providing us with one of literature’s great and rare pleasures.

    About Candide

    Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan. Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher’s immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that — contrary to the teachings of his distringuished tutor Dr. Pangloss — all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire’s most celebrated work.

    About Candide

    Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan. Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher’s immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that — contrary to the teachings of his distringuished tutor Dr. Pangloss — all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire’s most celebrated work.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by Voltaire

    Treatise on Toleration
    Candide and Other Stories
    The Portable Voltaire
    See all books by Voltaire

    Also by Voltaire

    Treatise on Toleration
    Candide and Other Stories
    The Portable Voltaire
    See all books by Voltaire

    Also by Voltaire

    Treatise on Toleration
    Candide and Other Stories
    The Portable Voltaire
    See all books by Voltaire

    About Voltaire

    Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694—1778) was one of the key thinkers of the European Enlightenment. Of his many works, Candide remains the most popular.



    Peter Constantine was awarded the 1998 PEN Translation Award for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann and the… More about Voltaire

    About Voltaire

    Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694—1778) was one of the key thinkers of the European Enlightenment. Of his many works, Candide remains the most popular.



    Peter Constantine was awarded the 1998 PEN Translation Award for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann and the… More about Voltaire

    About Voltaire

    Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694—1778) was one of the key thinkers of the European Enlightenment. Of his many works, Candide remains the most popular.



    Peter Constantine was awarded the 1998 PEN Translation Award for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann and the… More about Voltaire

    Product Details

    Category: Fiction | Classic Fiction

    Paperback | $19.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Oct 11, 2005 | 144 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780812972016

    Category: Fiction | Classic Fiction

    Mass Market Paperback | $5.95
    Published by Bantam Classics
    Apr 01, 1984 | 128 Pages | 4-3/16 x 6-7/8 | ISBN 9780553211665

    Category: Fiction | Classic Fiction

    Ebook | $1.99
    Published by Bantam Classics
    Aug 26, 2003 | 128 Pages | ISBN 9780553897999

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “When we observe such things as the recrudescence of fundamentalism in the United States, the horrors of religious fanaticism in the Middle East, the appalling danger which the stubbornness of political intolerance presents to the whole world, we must surely conclude that we can still profit by the example of lucidity, the acumen, the intellectual honesty and the moral courage of Voltaire.”
    —A. J. Ayer

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook