Candide, the illegitimate nephew of a German baron and student of eternal optimist Pangloss, is living a simple and sheltered life in “the best of all possible worlds.”
But when Candide falls in love with the wrong woman, his uncle’s young daughter, he is exiled from the baron’s castle and suffers great tragedy and catastrophe, which leaves him disillusioned and questioning the goodness of the universe.
Penned in just three days—and published in secret because of its blasphemous and seditious nature—Voltaire’s legendary satire deftly skewers religious, romantic, and political naïveté with an acerbic and ribald wit that delights to this day.
About the Author
Writer, historian, and philosopher François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire, was born in Paris, the youngest of five children. Voltaire practiced nearly every literary form—from plays, poetry, and novels to historical, philosophical, and scientific works.
An outspoken critic of both the Catholic Church and the French government, Voltaire had many brushes with authority in his life—a charge of writing libelous poetry landed him in the Bastille in 1717. He was a fierce advocate for the freedoms of speech and religion, and a believer in the separation of church and state. Though his dissident views often resulted in his exile from France, by 1778, Voltaire was lauded for his embodiment of the Enlightenment period’s ideals and considered one of its greatest writers.
