Candide

Voltaire

Candide, or, Optimism is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with optimism by his mentor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candides slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. As philosophers of Voltaires day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory.

Table of contents

• PART 1
• 1.HOW CANDIDE WAS BROUGHT UP IN A MAGNIFICENT CASTLE, AND HOW HE WAS EXPELLED THENCE
• 2.WHAT BECAME OF CANDIDE AMONG THE BULGARIANS
• 3.HOW CANDIDE MADE HIS ESCAPE FROM THE BULGARIANS, AND WHAT AFTERWARDS BECAME OF HIM
• 4.HOW CANDIDE FOUND HIS OLD MASTER PANGLOSS, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM
• 5.TEMPEST, SHIPWRECK, EARTHQUAKE, AND WHAT BECAME OF DOCTOR PANGLOSS, CANDIDE, AND JAMES THE ANABAPTIST
• 6.HOW THE PORTUGUESE MADE A BEAUTIFUL AUTO-DA-FÉ, TO PREVENT ANY FURTHER EARTHQUAKES; AND HOW CANDIDE WAS PUBLICLY WHIPPED
• 7.HOW THE OLD WOMAN TOOK CARE OF CANDIDE, AND HOW HE FOUND THE OBJECT HE LOVED
• 8.THE HISTORY OF CUNEGONDE
• 9.WHAT BECAME OF CUNEGONDE, CANDIDE, THE GRAND INQUISITOR, AND THE JEW
• 10.IN WHAT DISTRESS CANDIDE, CUNEGONDE, AND THE OLD WOMAN ARRIVED AT CADIZ; AND OF THEIR EMBARKATION
• PART 2
• 11.HISTORY OF THE OLD WOMAN
• 12.THE ADVENTURES OF THE OLD WOMAN CONTINUED
• 13.HOW CANDIDE WAS FORCED AWAY FROM HIS FAIR CUNEGONDE AND THE OLD WOMAN
• 14.HOW CANDIDE AND CACAMBO WERE RECEIVED BY THE JESUITS OF PARAGUAY
• 15.HOW CANDIDE KILLED THE BROTHER OF HIS DEAR CUNEGONDE
• 16.ADVENTURES OF THE TWO TRAVELLERS, WITH TWO GIRLS, TWO MONKEYS, AND THE SAVAGES CALLED OREILLONS
• 17.ARRIVAL OF CANDIDE AND HIS VALET AT EL DORADO, AND WHAT THEY SAW THERE
• 18.WHAT THEY SAW IN THE COUNTRY OF EL DORADO
• 19.WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM AT SURINAM AND HOW CANDIDE GOT ACQUAINTED WITH MARTIN
• 20.WHAT HAPPENED AT SEA TO CANDIDE AND MARTIN
• PART 3
• 21.CANDIDE AND MARTIN, REASONING, DRAW NEAR THE COAST OF FRANCE
• 22.WHAT HAPPENED IN FRANCE TO CANDIDE AND MARTIN
• 23.CANDIDE AND MARTIN TOUCHED UPON THE COAST OF ENGLAND, AND WHAT THEY SAW THERE
• 24.OF PAQUETTE AND FRIAR GIROFLÉE
• 25.THE VISIT TO LORD POCOCURANTE, A NOBLE VENETIAN
• 26.OF A SUPPER WHICH CANDIDE AND MARTIN TOOK WITH SIX STRANGERS, AND WHO THEY WERE 34
• 27.CANDIDE'S VOYAGE TO CONSTANTINOPLE
• 28.WHAT HAPPENED TO CANDIDE, CUNEGONDE, PANGLOSS, MARTIN, ETC
• 29.HOW CANDIDE FOUND CUNEGONDE AND THE OLD WOMAN AGAIN
• 30.THE CONCLUSION