Don Quixote de la Mancha

Volume I (the 1605 Publication)

Miguel de Cervantes, John Ormsby

• Publisher: Well Read Edition
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781944556174
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

In a 2002 survey, of the world's leading writers (including Doris Lessing, Salman Rushdie, Nadine Gordimer, Wole Soyinka, Seamus Heaney, Carlos Fuentes and Norman Mailer), representing nearly every continent, selected Don Quixote as "the most meaningful book of all time". Nigerian-born Ben Okri said, "If there is one novel you should read before you die, it is Don Quixote, it has the most wonderful and elaborated story, yet it is simple." Beyond such consistent contemporary accolades, the author's influence is so deeply rooted in Spanish Literature that one cannot write in Spanish without having Cervantes? influence in mind. Don Quixote de la Mancha is in fact the first modern novel (Volume one was published in 1605, and Volume II, was published ten years later, in 1615) and holds the honor of being published literary work in the world after the bible. So as one can imagine it's influence today stretches far beyond Spanish having significantly influenced the works of Nabokov to Borges, Fielding to Garcia Marquez.

CANDIDE

by

Voltaire

Copyright © 2016 by Édition Delince Incorporated. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright.

Published in the United States by Édition Delince Incorporated, Miami Florida USA. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Édition Delince ISBN: 978-1-944556-11-2

For information, address:

Édition Delince, INCORPORATED PO BOX 61121, MIAMI, FL 33261 USA

www.editiondelince.com

Written + Designed + Published in the
United States of America 23 0 5 0 A 0 0 12

Why Does Voltaire’s Candide Endure?

Voltaire’s masterpiece of satire was written between July and December 1758 and published simultaneously in Geneva, Paris and Amsterdam in January 1759. The events in the book unlike most works of fiction are astutely based on the current state of Voltaire’s contemporary world and culled from the headlines of his day. No major power center was omitted. Arbiters of social status, sex/love, money, war and religion were all lambasted within the pages of Candide.

Voltaire’s satire of religion inevitably took the spotlight (in his time), his analysis of the other powers that control the world – money, rank, violence and sex – still applies. These are among the reasons Candide remains pertinent as ever. All of the players in the world of money, social rank, violence and sex are still alive and well. Like Candide we are all born “innocent” and quickly realize as we mature realize that the world is not brimming with some form of pre-ordained harmony.

Candide and his companions observe “a negro stretched out on the ground with only one half of his habit, which was a pair of blue cotton drawers; for the poor man had lost his left leg, and his right hand.” They asked what happed: “When we labour in the sugar-works,” the man replies, “and the mill happens to snatch hold of a finger, they instantly chop off our hand; and when we attempt to run away, they chop off a leg. Both these cases have happened to me, and it is at this expense that you eat sugar in Europe.” Imagine the plight of workers in the developing world and the harsh repercussions for failure to produce finished work within the allotted time.

The characters in Candide are intentionally flat, rather like the people in a TV sitcom. Martin can only be hopeless and cynical, the opposite of Pangloss, and Pococurante can only be bored or jaded. Mayhem and violence are also ever present with the book. However, in their volume and frequency they tend to desensitize the reader. Again, think of the violence in comic strips or cartoons. Unlike cartoons however the shocking events in Candide are historically ‘real.’ The Lisbon earthquake did occur for example in 1755 and killed over 30,000 people. The Spanish Inquisition did kill countless non-Christians. Candide’s exploration of post colonial slavery in Surinam still exists to this day throughout the Atlantic and Pacific worlds.

Voltaire weaves these characters and their situations in order to illustrate ideas and to prove a philosophical point. Names that “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds” is simply not true. “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, ‘Tis that I may not weep” said Lord Byron and the same holds true of Candide. Readers experience rapid-fire, alternating states of laughter and outrage within the book.

Cover art design by the Atelier at Delince Group in Miami, Florida US.

Table of Contents



I.

How Candide was brought up in a Magnificent Castle, and how he was expelled thence

II.

What became of Candide among the Bulgarians

III.

How Candide made his escape from the Bulgarians, and what afterwards became of him

IV.

How Candide found his old Master Pangloss, and what happened to them

V.

Tempest, Shipwreck, Earthquake, and

what became of Doctor Pangloss, Candide, and James the Anabaptist

VI.

How the Portuguese made a Beautiful Auto-da-fé, to prevent any further Earthquakes: and how Candide was publicly whipped

VII.

How the Old Woman took care of Candide, and how he found the Object he loved

VIII.

The History of Cunegonde

IX.

What became of Cunegonde, Candide, the Grand Inquisitor, and the Jew

X.

In what distress Candide, Cunegonde, and the Old Woman arrived at Cadiz; and of their Embarkation

XI.

History of the Old Woman

XII.

The Adventures of the Old Woman continued

XIII.

How Candide was forced away from his fair Cunegonde and the Old Woman

XIV.

How Candide and Cacambo were received by the Jesuits of Paraguay

XV.

How Candide killed the brother of his dear Cunegonde

XVI.

Adventures of the Two Travellers, with Two Girls, Two Monkeys, and the Savages called Oreillons

XVII.

Arrival of Candide and his Valet at El Dorado, and what they saw there

XVIII.

What they saw in the Country of El Dorado

XIX.

What happened to them at Surinam and how Candide got acquainted with Martin

XX.

What happened at Sea to Candide and Martin

XXI.

Candide and Martin, reasoning, draw near the Coast of France

XXII.

What happened in France to Candide and Martin

XXIII.

Candide and Martin touched upon the Coast of England, and what they saw there

XXIV.

Of Paquette and Friar Giroflée

XXV.

The Visit to Lord Pococurante, a Noble Venetian took with Six Strangers, and who they were

XXVII.

Candide’s Voyage to Constantinople

XXVIII.

What happened to Candide, Cunegonde, Pangloss, Martin, etc.

XXIX.

How Candide found Cunegonde and the Old Woman again

XXX.

The Conclusion

CANDIDE

I. HOW CANDIDE WAS BROUGHT UP IN A MAGNIFICENT CASTLE, AND HOW HE WAS EXPELLED THENCE.

In a castle of Westphalia, belonging to the Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh, lived a youth, whom nature had endowed with the most gentle manners. His countenance was a true picture of his soul. He combined a true judgment with simplicity of spirit, which was the reason, I apprehend, of his being called Candide. The old servants of the family suspected him to have been the son of the Baron’s sister, by a good, honest gentleman of the neighborhood, whom that young lady would never marry because he had been able to prove only seven...

Table of contents

• Candide