Candide, Or, Optimism

In this new translation of Voltaire’s __Candide,__ distinguished translator Burton Raffel captures the French novel’s irreverent spirit and offers a vivid, contemporary version of the 250-year-old text. Raffel casts the novel in an English idiom that--had Voltaire been a twenty-first-century American--he might himself have employed. The translation is immediate and unencumbered, and for the first time makes Voltaire the __satirist a__ wicked pleasure for English-speaking readers. __Candide__ recounts the fantastically improbable travels, adventures, and misfortunes of the young Candide, his beloved Cunégonde, and his devoutly optimistic tutor, Pangloss. Endowed at the start with good fortune and every prospect for happiness and success, the characters nevertheless encounter every conceivable misfortune. Voltaire’s philosophical tale, in part an ironic attack on the optimistic thinking of such figures as G. W. Leibniz and Alexander Pope, has proved enormously influential over the years. In a general introduction to this volume, historian Johnson Kent Wright places __Candide in__ the contexts of Voltaire’s life and work and the Age of Enlightenment. Contents 7 Introduction Candide, Voltaire, and the Enlightenment 13 Translator’s Note 27 Chapter One. How Candide was raised in a noble mansion, and how he was driven away 33 Chapter Two. What happened to Candide among the Bulgars 36 Chapter Three. How Candide saved himself from the Bulgars, and what became of him 39 Chapter Four. How Candide met his old philosophy teacher, Doctor Pangloss, and what had happened to him 42 Chapter Five. Tempest, shipwreck, earthquake, and what happened to Doctor Pangloss, Candide, and Jacques the Anabaptist 46 Chapter Six. How they had a beautiful auto-da-fé in order to put an end to the earthquake, and how Candide was flogged 50 Chapter Seven. How an old woman took care of Candide and how he got back his beloved 52 Chapter Eight. Cunégonde’s story 54 Chapter Nine. What happened to Cunégonde, to Candide, to the Grand Inquisitor, and to a Jew 58 Chapter Ten. In what diffculty Candide, Cunégonde, and the old woman reached Cadiz, and how they boarded a ship 60 Chapter Eleven. The old woman’s story 63 Chapter Twelve. More about the old woman’s misfortunes 67 Chapter Thirteen. How Candide was forced to leave lovely Cunégonde and the old woman 72 Chapter Fourteen. How Candide and Cacambo were greeted by the Jesuits of Paraguay 75 Chapter Fifteen. How Candide killed his dear Cunégonde’s brother 79 Chapter Sixteen. What happened to the two travelers with two girls, two monkeys, and the savages known as Oreillons 82 Chapter Seventeen. Arrival of Candide and his valet in the land of Eldorado, and what they saw there 87 Chapter Eighteen. What they saw in Eldorado 92 Chapter Nineteen. How they got to Surinam, and how Candide came to know Martin 99 Chapter Twenty. What happened at sea to Candide and Martin 106 Chapter Twenty-one. Candide and Martin approach the French coast and argue 110 Chapter Twenty-two. What happened to Candide and Martin in France 112 Chapter Twenty-three. Candide and Martin reach the British coast, and what they see there 126 Chapter Twenty-four. Paquette and Friar Giroflée 128 Chapter Twenty-five. Visit to Lord Pococuranté, a nobleman of Venice 134 Chapter Twenty-six. A dinner that Candide and Martin shared with six foreigners, and who they were 141 Chapter Twenty-seven. Candide’s journey to Constantinople 146 Chapter Twenty-eight. What happened to Candide, Cunégonde, Pangloss, Martin, etc. 151 Chapter Twenty-nine. How Candide found Cunégonde and the old woman 155 Chapter Thirty. Conclusion 156 Suggested Reading 163

In this new translation of Voltaire’s Candide, distinguished translator Burton Raffel captures the French novel’s irreverent spirit and offers a vivid, contemporary version of the 250-year-old text. Raffel casts the novel in an English idiom that--had Voltaire been a twenty-first-century American--he might himself have employed. The translation is immediate and unencumbered, and for the first time makes Voltaire the satirist a wicked pleasure for English-speaking readers.
Candide recounts the fantastically improbable travels, adventures, and misfortunes of the young Candide, his beloved Cunégonde, and his devoutly optimistic tutor, Pangloss. Endowed at the start with good fortune and every prospect for happiness and success, the characters nevertheless encounter every conceivable misfortune. Voltaire’s philosophical tale, in part an ironic attack on the optimistic thinking of such figures as G. W. Leibniz and Alexander Pope, has proved enormously influential over the years. In a general introduction to this volume, historian Johnson Kent Wright places Candide in the contexts of Voltaire’s life and work and the Age of Enlightenment.

"In this new translation of Voltaire's Candide, distinguished translator Burton Raffel captures the French novel's irreverent spirit and offers a vivid, contemporary version of the 250-year-old text. Raffel casts the novel in an English idiom that - had Voltaire been a twenty-first-century American - he might himself have employed. The translation is immediate and unencumbered, and for the first time makes Voltaire the satirist a wicked pleasure for English-speaking readers."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded 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 way in the world. And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism.