Candide Paperback – 24 Jul 2017

"Those who make you believe absurdities can also make you commit atrocities". Voltaire said that and his dictum seems to run to the core of Pangloss's optimistic belief in this, "the best of all possible worlds." Candide's ingenuousness turns him into a flimsy protagonist at times and, like the raging torrent that rushes him down a river outside El Dorado, he is simply at the effete end of a flawed quietism. Voltaire exposes Pangloss's all-smiles view of the world when he justifies the drowning of the monk Jacques off Portugal on the grounds that the sea was made for that purpose. The relationship between Martin and Candide is based on often irate debate and difficult self-questioning, something Voltaire adopted in his diatribes against all forms of religious propaganda and corrupt clericalism. Something of a fairy tale here, but with a robust, subversive challenge to power freaks everywhere.

....were, I am sure, words used about "Candide" when it was first published.Candide is a naïve, gullible, quixotic innocent, who is launched on a fantastical journey around Europe, South America and returning to the Eastern Mediterranean, in his search for his true love, Cunegonde, and answers to the philosophical questions raised by his mentor, Pangloss.He suffers disaster after disaster and is mistreated, cheated and betrayed time after time but just keeps bouncing back.The story is written in a light, humorous style, with echoes of Gabriel García Marquez's magic realism; with an overlying cynicism it is used to lampoon and satirise the venality of the establishment, particularly the Roman Catholic Church.It is an easy and very good read and it just flows along; it is hard to imagine that it was written more than 250 years ago, although at least some of the credit for this may be down to skilful translating and editing.One passage really caught my eye - writing in 1759, Voltaire has Martin saying: "It is said [of] Venice....that strangers meet with a very good reception if they have a good deal of money." - just a few weeks ago, in late 2017, in response to a Brit who complained about being stuffed with a bill for EUR 526 for lunch for him and his parents, Luigi Brugnaro, the Mayor of Venice, called him a cheapskate and said: "If you come to Venice, you need to shell out a bit. You’re welcome, but you need to spend.” - plus ça change....

So. One finally catches up with Candide, the 84-page novella dashed off by Voltaire in three days and recognised as one of the most influential books ever written. It is the story of a young man who is persuaded of the doctrine of optimism by his mentor Professor Pangloss: “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”.This is a strange dark fairy tale riddled with allegory and overburdened with an exaggerated, almost cartoonish brutality. Also cartoon-like is the resurrection of bumped-off characters, however welcome their return. (I’m looking at you, Pangloss.) Less welcome was the undercurrent of antisemitism I detected in certain parts of this story. (Et tu, Voltaire?)It is only really possible to understand Voltaire’s great work as a satire of its times thanks to the rather odd but undoubtedly helpful footnotes. (I am referring to the Amazon Classics edition with Philip Littell’s introduction - one of the most bizarre pieces of writing I have ever read. Or, to be more precise, skipped.)I close with my favourite quote: “Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself. I like only that which serves my purpose.” Quite so. And now the sun has come out and I must cultivate my garden.

This is a masterpiece, and that's not just my opinion. This version was very good - I had copies before that I lost, so it was good to have and read it again. Even though Voltaire wrote this centuries ago, the concepts of life, how we live it, and how we relate to others, are still fresh and relevant today. In fact don't read my rubbish review, search on the internet and read about what a wonderful book this is.

If you are going to read Candide, I strongly recommend the Penguin Edition. The work itself is little more than a novella yet over half the content is taken up by very welcome Notes coupled with a Guide on the Proper Names, Notes on Translation (not an easy job by all accounts) and an Excellent Introduction (NB - Read this at the end).As for the story, young Candide romps around Europe and South America in a series of adventures featuring disembowellings, murder, war, earthquakes, hangings and furry red sheep loaded with diamonds. Voltaire's aim is to satirize, inter alia, the Panglossian view of the world which was gaining traction in 18th Century Europe.I read this for pleasure rather than an academic Course and really enjoyed it. There is some very funny writing even for the modern reader. Candide's discovery of unremitting misery in this best of all possible worlds is a fairly blunt tool but thankfully the book is short enough to get the point across before losing impact. A good read and I felt educated too!

This Kindle translation is terrible. It's full of grammatical mistakes and word errors, as if somebody who isn't terribly familiar with either French OR English has attempted to translate it. At first I attempted to plow through, but no.... The introduction is no better, and is also full of bad grammar and the 'wrong words.'I just bought the 'Original English Translation' on Kindle instead, and it's fine.