Reading Order
Candide Reading Order
Candide ou l'Optimisme (1759) by Voltaire is the most perfect of the philosophical tales (contes philosophiques) and one of the supreme comic works in any language — a novella written in a few weeks by the sixty-four-year-old Voltaire in white-hot fury after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, the publication of Rousseau's Second Discourse, and the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, directed primarily against Leibniz's philosophical optimism ('the best of all possible worlds') as popularized by the German philosopher Christian Wolff. Candide is thrown out of the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh's castle in Westphalia for kissing Cunégonde, wanders through Lisbon during the earthquake and auto-da-fé, South America (where he finds El Dorado), the slave plantations of Surinam, Paris, England (where he witnesses the execution of Admiral Byng), Venice, and Constantinople, watching Leibnizian optimism collapse under the accumulated weight of human stupidity, cruelty, and natural catastrophe. The conclusion — 'il faut cultiver notre jardin' (we must cultivate our garden) — is the most famous and most debated conclusion in French literature: the retreat from metaphysics to practical activity, the acceptance of limitation, the refusal of grand philosophical consolation.
Where to start
Candide is 30,000 words and can be read in three hours — read the whole thing in one sitting. Then read Zadig (1747) for the earlier oriental tale (more optimistic about providence), and Micromégas (1752) for the cosmic philosophical tale. The Dictionnaire philosophique (1764) is the other essential Voltaire — the satirical encyclopedia of his mature thought. Rousseau's Second Discourse (1755) and Leibniz's Theodicy (1710) are the philosophical positions Candide is arguing against.
Complete Candide Book List
- 1Buy
Candide
Voltaire·1759·The masterpiece — Candide, Cunégonde, Pangloss, Martin, the Old Woman; the earthquake, the auto-da-fé, El Dorado, the garden; 'il faut cultiver notre jardin' - 2Buy
Zadig
Voltaire·1747·The earlier oriental tale — Zadig's adventures in Babylon, Egypt, Arabia; providence and free will; more ambiguous about optimism than Candide; the best entry into the conte philosophique form - 3Buy
Micromégas
Voltaire·1752·The cosmic tale — Micromégas from Sirius and the inhabitant of Saturn visit Earth and discover the smallness of human self-importance; the philosophical tale as cosmic perspective - 4Buy
L'Ingénu
Voltaire·1767·The late conte — the Huron brought to France; the noble savage who sees through French institutions without the comic distance of Candide; the darkest and most emotionally engaged of the contes - 5Buy
Dictionnaire philosophique
Voltaire·1764·The satirical encyclopedia — short satirical articles on religion, philosophy, history, and morals; the mature Voltaire in the form most suited to his intelligence; the companion to Candide
Candide — Frequently Asked Questions
What is "the best of all possible worlds" that Candide mocks?
Leibniz argued in the Theodicy (1710) that God, being perfect, necessarily created the best possible world — even apparent evil is part of the overall good; Pangloss parodies this optimism throughout Candide as earthquake, torture, slavery, and massacre accumulate; Voltaire's answer is the Lisbon earthquake.
What does 'il faut cultiver notre jardin' mean?
'We must cultivate our garden' — the conclusion of Candide; Voltaire's answer to metaphysical optimism is practical activity: don't theorize about whether this is the best of all possible worlds, just tend what is in front of you; the most compressed statement of Voltairean pragmatism.
What is the 'conte philosophique'?
The philosophical tale (conte philosophique) is a genre Voltaire developed: a short, fast-moving narrative whose characters are types rather than individuals, set in an exotic or fantastical world, in which philosophical positions are tested against events; the plot's function is to refute philosophical consolation through accumulated experience.
Why did Voltaire write Candide?
Voltaire wrote Candide in 1758–1759 in response to three events: the Lisbon earthquake (1755, which killed 30,000–50,000 people), Rousseau's Second Discourse (1755, which Voltaire found absurd), and the Seven Years' War; the confluence of natural disaster, philosophical optimism, and organized human violence provoked the satirical fury of the tale.
Who is Martin in Candide?
Martin is the Manichean philosopher whom Candide picks up in Surinam — the pessimist to Pangloss's optimist; Martin believes the world is governed by an evil principle and that human beings are fundamentally bad; Martin is usually right about the facts but offers no practical solution.
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