The subtitle of the novel warns us that this is a novel of ideas (Optimism is a philosophical term newly coined in the period), but what precisely those ideas are, and what we are to make of them, is by no means obvious. But while it makes us laugh, it makes us laugh uneasily: this is also a book that sets out to provoke us, even to make us think. All this makes the book enjoyable and easy to read. The sentences are mostly short, the story is funny, there are some good jokes, and the action moves fast. One reason, of course, is that this short novel is accessible-or seems to be. In the 1950s the work was widely seen as a satirical response to the show trials of the McCarthy era, while 50 years on, Robert Carsen’s 2006 production, perfomed on both sides of the Atlantic, contained an explicit satire of the leaders of the invasion of Iraq: it seems that whenever we are faced by dogmatism and absurdity, it is to Voltaire’s Candide that we turn. Leonard Bernstein’s “comic operetta” Candide, a collaboration with the author Lillian Hellman, premiered on Broadway in 1956 and continues to enjoy frequent revivals. For the first book under its new imprint, Random House in 1928 commissioned Rockwell Kent to illustrate Candide (and his image of Candide’s house remains to this day the company’s logo). Never since out of print, the novel has been translated into every conceivable language and continues to feed our imaginations by being repeatedly illustrated, imitated, adapted. The work was an instant hit when it first appeared in early 1759, and that same year no fewer than three English translations were published in London. Norton Critical Editions: Age of EnlightenmentĬandide has been delighting readers continuously for over 250 years. The Status of Fiction in Voltaire’s Contes.Holding the Mirror up to Fiction: Generic Parody in Candide.Romance Conventions in Voltaire’s Candide.Does Candide Learn? Genre, Discourse, and Satire in Candide.The Voltairean Genre of the Conte Philosophique: Does It Exist?.Candide and the Philosophy of the Garden.Voltaire’s Garden: The Philosopher as a Campaigner for Human Rights.

He has published widely on French literature of the Ancien Régime, and in particular on Voltaire. He is General Editor of the Complete Works of Voltaire, the first scholarly edition of the entirety of Voltaire’s writings, and also President of the Société des études voltairiennes. NICHOLAS CRONK is Director of the Voltaire Foundation and Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford.

Candide book cover