Candide and Other Stories
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"Candide" is the famous satire and best-known work by Voltaire. First published in 1759, "Candide" is the story of its central character who travels throughout Europe and South America experiencing and witnessing much misfortune on the way. It is within the clever construct of this narrative that Voltaire refutes the philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, whose central idea was that life was the best of all possible worlds and that disasters, should they occur, were harbingers of better things to come. Voltaire found this philosophy insultingly ridiculous and within the humorous and satirical construct of this work he effectively exposes the idiocy of a philosophy that was so pervasive in his time. Also included in this volume are the additional short stories 'Micromegas', 'Zadig', 'The Huron (The Ingenu)', 'The White Bull', and the poem 'What Pleases the Ladies'.
Voltaire
Voltaire (1694–1778) was the pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet, one of the most prominent writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment. After studying at the Collège de Clermont (now the Lycée Louis-le-Grand), he began writing philosophical works as well as poems, comedic plays, and other forms of literature. Voltaire was often imprisoned for publicly criticizing the French monarchy. His controversial beliefs included religious freedom, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state.
More by Voltaire
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