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Sign up todayCandide
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Learn moreCandide, published simultaneously in five European capitals in 1759, became an instant bestseller and is now regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment.
This is a witty allegory of a young man whose optimism gives way to disillusionment after a series of terrible misfortunes.
Voltaire’s preoccupations with evil and with various kinds of human folly and intolerance found a perfect vehicle in this philosophical tale. A master storyteller, he combined often wildly entertaining action with profoundly serious sense, parodying the traditional chivalric and oriental tales with which his public was more familiar.
Voltaire (1694–1778), born François-Marie Arouet, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties. He produced works in almost every literary form, including poetry, novels, essays, plays, historical and scientific works, and over two thousand books and pamphlets.
Jack Davenport is an English actor best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling, Smash, and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. In addition to film and theater, he has lent his voice to many audiobooks and voice-overs for commercials. Some of his audiobook credits include A Clockwork Orange, Black Dogs, Candide, among others, and his narrations have won two AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Reviews
“Voltaire, a pivotal figure in the Enlightenment, made his mark with this satiric triumph following the woes of a young man who fell in love with the wrong woman.”
“Penned by that Renaissance man of the Enlightenment, Voltaire, Candide is steeped in the political and philosophical controversies of the 1750s. But for the general reader, the novel’s driving principle is clear enough: the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and apparent folly, misery, and strife are actually harbingers of a greater good we cannot perceive, is hogwash.”
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