Candide

 

Candide

This is the frontispiece of the 1759 edition published by Sirène in Paris. It reads, "Candide, or Optimism. Translated from the German of Dr. Ralph."
Author	Voltaire
Original title	Candide, ou l'Optimisme
Illustrator	Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune; Paul Klee[1]
Country	France
Language	French
Genre(s)	Satire, Picaresque novel[specify]
Publisher	1759: Cramer, Marc-Michel Rey, Jean Nourse, Lambert, and others
Publication date	January 1759[2][3]
Media type	Print
ISBN	ISBN 0-553-21166-8

Candide, ou l'Optimisme (1759) is a French satire by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. It has been translated as various English titles, including Candide: Or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: Or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Or, Optimism (1947).^[4] Candide tells the tale of a naïve man, Candide (meaning "ingenuous"^[5]), who has been taught to believe in Leibnizian optimism but becomes disillusioned after undergoing a series of extraordinary hardships during his luckless odyssey. With a plot similar to that of the more serious picaresque novel or bildungsroman, Candide parodies many adventure and romance clichés. The novella's pace is quick, its mood is breezy, and its tone is mordantly matter-of-fact.

Candide, Voltaire's magnum opus,^[6] is one of the most popular literary works of all time, and is thus the subject of much literary criticism. Its biting wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition make it especially memorable and influential.^[7] Candide is widely considered to be one of the most significant works of the Western canon for its enduring popularity and influence. Later writers often mimicked its style, and its story has been put on stage multiple times. One such adaptation, the most notable, is Leonard Bernstein's operetta, which first appeared in 1956.

Through the allegory of Candide, Voltaire pokes fun at religion and theologians, governments and armies, philosophies and philosophers.^[6] He comprehensively, if not systematically, enumerates all the evils of the world to make fun of the doctrine of Optimism, skewering various other sacred cows along the way. He discusses many evils, but two stand out: the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the Seven Years' War—both of which inspired Voltaire to write Candide.

Background

A number of significant historical events and literary works inspired Voltaire to write Candide. Not least among them are the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake; both are referenced frequently in the book.^[8] Ira Wade, a noted expert on Voltaire and Candide, speculates that Voltaire's primary source for information on the earthquake was the 1755 work Relation historique du tremlement de terre survenu à Lisbonne le premier novembre by Ange Goudar, which not only described the event but conjectured as to its philosophical meaning.^[9] But however significant the Lisbon earthquake was to Voltaire, it was not the sole impetus for the writing of Candide, nor was any other single historical event.^[8]

Another potential source of inspiration may be derived specifically from the stereotypical German personality of the time. This—as described by Alfred Owen Aldridge, biographer of Voltaire—included "extreme credulousness or sentimental simplicity".^[10] Thus are there significant parallels between Candide and Simplicius Simplicissimus, the 1669 novel by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen.^[10]

But Candide's closest literary relative is widely thought to be Gulliver's Travels, which probably served at least in part as a model for Voltaire (especially concerning the use of satire). In Candide's capacity for parody of the genre of the bildungsroman, it most likely is based on François Fénelon's The Adventures of Telemachus.^[11] Another probable source of inspiration for Candide is Cosmopolite (1753) by Fougeret de Monbron.^[12]

Lisbon earthquake

It is worthwhile to compare Candide to the work of Voltaire that is closest to it in subject and time, yet very distinct in style: Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne ("Poem on the Lisbon Disaster"). Both works specifically attack the philosophical doctrine of Optimism and use the evidence of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake against it. This massive earthquake, which occurred on All Saints' Day, had a strong influence on theologians of the day—and on Voltaire, who was thoroughly disillusioned by it. He described it in 1755 as one of the most horrible disasters "in the best of possible worlds".^[9][13]

Creation

Writing

It is unknown exactly when Voltaire wrote Candide,^[14] but scholars estimate that it was primarily composed in late 1758, though Voltaire may have begun it as early as 1757.^[15] He is believed to have written a portion of it while at his house in Ferney and also while visiting Charles-Théodore, the Elector-Palatinate at Schwetzingen, for three weeks in the summer of 1758. There is, despite solid evidence for these assertions, a popular legend that Voltaire wrote Candide in the span of three days. This idea is probably based on a misreading of the work La Vie intime de Voltaire aux Délices et à Ferney by Perey and Maugras.^[16][17] In fact, the evidence indicates strongly that Voltaire did not rush or improvise Candide, but worked on it for a significant period of time, maybe a whole year. This implies that the work was intellectually mature and well thought out, not impromptu, as the choppy plot and the aforementioned myth suggest.^[18]

Candide underwent one major revision after its initial publication: in 1761, a version of Candide was published which included, in addition to many minor tweaks, a major addition by Voltaire to the twenty-second chapter, a chapter that had been thought weak by the Duke of Vallière.^[19] The English title of this edition was Candide, or Optimism. Translated from the German of Dr. Ralph. With the additions found in the Doctor's pocket when he died at Minden, in the Year of Grace 1759.^[20] The last edition of Candide authorized by Voltaire was the one published in 1775 by Cramer, called l'édition encadrée because the text was set within a frame.^[21]

Publication

The date of publication, too, is uncertain, although it is thought that Voltaire had Candide published in early 1759 simultaneously in five countries.^[3] More precisely, Candide was published no later than January 15, and probably before then.^[22] Seventeen versions of Candide from 1759 are known today, and there has been great controversy over which is the earliest.^[3]

The complicated science of calculating the relative publication dates of all of the published versions is described at length in I.O. Wade's article "The First Edition of Candide: A Problem of Identification", which was published in the Princeton University Library Chronicle, volume XX, number 2, in the winter of 1959. The publication process was extremely secretive owing to the potentially controversial nature of the material; it likely was the "most clandestine work of the century".^[23] The greatest number of copies of Candide were published concurrently in Geneva by Cramer, in Amsterdam by Marc-Michel Rey, in London by Jean Nourse (translated into English), and in Paris by Lambert.^[23] It was translated once into Italian and thrice into English the same year.^[24]

Manuscripts

There is currently only one extant manuscript of Candide that was written before the work's 1759 publication. For almost two hundred years, there was a legend that there existed an early manuscript of Candide that was once owned by the Duchess de La Vallière.^[25] In 1956, Ira O. Wade discovered this manuscript, since named the La Vallière Manuscript. This manuscript is believed to have been sent, chapter by chapter, by Voltaire himself to the Duke and Duchess before the novella's publication in the autumn of 1758.^[3] The manuscript was sold to the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in the late 1700s, where it remained undiscovered for almost 200 years.^[26] This manuscript, the most original and authentic of all surviving editions, was likely dictated by Voltaire to a secretary, Wagnière.^[27] Copies were also sent to Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.^[28] This discovery precipitated Wade's writing of Voltaire and Candide: A Study in the Fusion of History, Art and Philosophy, published in 1959.^[29]

In addition to this manuscript, there is believed to have been another, one copied by Wagnière for the Elector Charles-Théodore who hosted Voltaire during the summer of 1758. The existence of this copy was first supposed by Norman L. Torrey in 1929.^[30][25]

Illustrations

Voltaire strongly opposed the inclusion of illustrations in his works, as he stated in a 1778 letter to Charles Joseph Panckoucke: "these baubles have never been allowed in the works of Cicero, Virgil and Horace."^[31] Nevertheless, two sets of illustrations for Candide were done by French artist Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune. The first version was done, at Moreau's own expense, in 1787 and included in Kehl's publication of that year, Oeuvres Complètes de Voltaire.^[31] Four images were drawn by Moreau for this edition; these were engraved by Pierre-Charles Baquoy.^[32] The second version, in 1803, consisted of seven drawings by Moreau; these were transposed by multiple engravers.^[33]

Synopsis

Candide is composed of thirty chapters. As noted by Ervin Beck, a professor emeritus of English, and Elizabeth Cooney Leister, author of Voltaire's Candide: Barron's Book Notes, the novella may be divided into three equal parts, each comprising ten chapters and defined by its setting: I–X take place in Europe, XI–XX are in America, and XXI–XXX are in Europe and the Ottoman Empire.^[34][35] Others divide the book into two parts, separated by the hiatus in El Dorado; The first part constitutes the rising action, and the last the resolution. This view is supported by the strong theme of travel and quest, reminiscent of adventure and picaresque novels. After wandering aimlessly, Candide discovers that his love is alive; the theme of adventure increases as he sets out to find her.^[36]

The tale begins in the castle of the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh in Westphalia, home to the Baron's daughter, Lady Cunégonde, and his bastard nephew Candide. The protagonist is a child of "the most unaffected simplicity", whose face is "the index of his mind".^[11] He is drawn to Cunégonde, a character thought to be modeled after Voltaire's mistresses: his niece Marie Louise Mignot Denis and the scientist Émilie du Châtelet. Cunégonde may be associated symbolically with Eve (see Gardens).^[37] She and Candide are tutored by the philosopher Dr. Pangloss (a professor of "métaphysico-théologo-cosmolonigologie"), who teaches them that they live in the "best of all possible worlds" ("ce meilleur des mondes possibles") and that "all is for the best" ("tout est au mieux"). Pangloss may have been based on Louisa Dorothea von Meiningen, duchess of Saxe-Gotha, a Leibnizian with whom Voltaire corresponded regularly.^[38] The name "Pangloss" is derived from the Greek words pan and gloss, together meaning "all words".^[39]

Candide is evicted from the castle after kissing Cunégonde. Forced to travel extensively, he endures a number of unfortunate hardships, and witnesses worse. Still, he retains his Optimism for a comically long period of time. Candide serves in the army (where he is flogged), nearly gets burned in an auto-da-fé, and almost dies in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In Candide's absence, the baron's castle is ransacked by Bulgars, Cunégonde is raped and stabbed, and her family is killed (though she survives). Candide is temporarily reunited with her, but immediately thereafter he is forced to kill a Jew and an Inquisitor who shared her as slave masters.^[40]

Cunégonde, her servant, and Candide steal away to Buenos Aires and the New World. Cunégonde's servant is "the old woman" (Fr. la vieille), the daughter of a fictional Pope Urban X and a princess of Palestrina; she has had one buttock cut off by starving soldiers under siege.^[40] They are tracked to the Americas and forced to flee. Candide's manservant, Cacambo, appears and leads his master to Paraguay without Cunégonde. Cacambo (from the Spanish word "caca"^[41]) is a very practical valet of diverse ethnic background. At a border post on the way, Cacambo and Candide speak to the commandant, who turns out to be Cunégonde's brother. He brother explains how he was saved by Jesuits and came to be there.^[40] He is based partly on Frederick the Great, with whom Voltaire corresponded.^[42]

When Candide proclaims that he intends to marry Cunégonde, the brother grows angry and strikes Candide with the flat of his sword. Candide stabs his attacker, steals his robe, and flees with Cacambo, greatly distressed. The two wander into El Dorado, a geographically isolated utopia where the streets are covered with precious stones, there are no priests, and all of the king's jokes are funny.^[43] They stay for a month before parting with one hundred red sheep laden with riches. All but two of the sheep perish soon after their departure. In Surinam, the duo split up: Cacambo is to go to Buenos Aires to rescue Lady Cunégonde, then rendezvous with Candide in Venice.

In Bordeaux, on the way to Italy, Candide meets Martin, a Manichean from Amsterdam who accompanies him on the rest of his journey. Along the way, they argue philosophy. Some critics believe that Martin is treated sympathetically, that he represents the ideal philosophy of Candide—pessimism. Others disagree, citing Voltaire's negative description of Martin's principles and the conclusion of the work in which Martin becomes passive.^[44] Candide and Martin meet up with Cacambo in Venice after a series of adventures in France – where Candide is swindled multiple times – and in England, where Candide and Martin witness the execution of an admiral, designed by his superiors "to encourage the others". Cacambo explains that Cunégonde is in Constantinople, so they travel toward that city. En route, Cacambo relates Cunégonde's status: she is washing dishes for a Prince of Transylvania, and she has become ugly. On the way to rescue her, Candide finds Pangloss and Lady Cunégonde's brother, now a baron, alive and rowing the galley.^[40]

Pangloss and the baron relate their survival stories, which – despite their horrors – have not shaken Pangloss's Optimism. He says, "I still hold to my original opinions, because, after all, I'm a philosopher, and it wouldn't be proper for me to recant, since Leibniz cannot be wrong, and since preestablished harmony is the most beautiful thing in the world, along with the plenum and subtle matter."^[45] The travelers arrive in Transylvania, where they rejoin Cunégonde and the old woman. Candide buys their freedom and marries Cunégonde to spite her brother. Paquette and Brother Giroflée, too, are reconciled with Candide on his farm, the only property left to him, once the richest man in Europe.

Returning to their farm, Candide, Pangloss and Martin meet a Turk who teaches a philosophy that is non-existent. He and his four children work a small farm to keep "free of three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty". Struck by this statement, Candide concludes that all he knows is that "we must cultivate our garden." Candide, Pangloss, Martin, Cunégonde, Paquette, the old woman and Brother Giroflée all set to work (on this "commendable plan"), each to one specific task. Candide ignores Pangloss's insistence that all turned out for the best by necessity, and is resolved only that "it is necessary to cultivate our garden".^[46]

Style

As Voltaire himself described it, the purpose of Candide was to "bring amusement to a small number of men of wit".^[11] The author achieves this goal, according to literary analysts, by combining his sharp wit with a fun parody of the classic adventure-romance plot. Candide is confronted with horrible events described in painstaking detail so often it becomes humorous. Frances K. Barasch comments on how Voltaire's matter-of-fact narrative treats topics such as mass death "as coolly as a weather report". The fast-paced and impossible plot – in which characters come back from the dead and otherwise defy traditional logic – allows for many compounded tragedies to quickly befall the same characters over and over again.^[47] In the end, Candide is primarily, as described by Voltaire's biographer Ian Davidson, "short, light, rapid and humorous".^[6][48]

Satire

The main method of Candide's satire is to ironically contrast great tragedy and comedy by juxtaposing them.^[6] The book does not invent or exaggerate evils of the world; it only displays real ones starkly, allowing Voltaire to simplify subtle philosophies and cultural traditions, highlighting their flaws.^[49] Thus Candide derides Optimism, for instance, with a compounding deluge of plausible, yet horrible, events with no apparent redeeming qualities.^[11][50]

Primarily, Voltaire depicts the worst of the world and his pathetic hero's desperate effort to fit it into his optimistic outlook. Indeed, the majority of the work is a treatment of evil. Rarely does Voltaire diverge from this technique, but there is at least one notable exception – his description of El Dorado, a fantastic village in which the inhabitants are simply rational, and their society is just and reasonable. The positivity of El Dorado may be contrasted with the pessimistic attitude of the majority of the book.^[11][51]

Picaresque

Another element of the satire focuses on what William F. Bottiglia calls the "sentimental foibles of the age" and Voltaire's attack on them.^[52] Flaws in European culture are highlighted in the style with which Candide parodies adventure and romance in partial mimicry of the preceding centuries' picaresque novel.^[53] A number of archetypal characters thus have recognizable manifestations in Voltaire's work: Candide is the drifting rogue of low social class; Cunégonde is the object of Candide's sexual interest; Pangloss is the knowledgeable mentor to the main character; Cacambo is the typical valet of the genre.^[11] The characters of Candide have been described as unrealistic, two-dimensional, mechanized, and even marionette-like; they are simplistic and stereotypical.^[54]

In that the initially naïve protagonist at the end of the novel eventually comes to a mature conclusion – however noncommittal – the novella may be considered a bildungsroman, or at least a parody of one.^[10]

Themes

Optimism

See also: Panglossianism

Candide is a work which satirizes various philosophical and religious theories that Voltaire had previously criticized. Primary of these is Leibnizian Optimism, which Voltaire makes to look absurd in the face of seemingly endless calamity.^[6] Fundamental to Voltaire's attack is the respected tutor Pangloss, a self-proclaimed follower of Leibniz and a teacher of his doctrine. Ridicule of Pangloss's theories thus ridicule Leibniz himself, and Pangloss's reasoning is silly at best.^{[citation needed]} Even more doggedly than Candide, Pangloss holds to Optimism despite horrendous fortune, reiterating "Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles" (All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds). This phrase illustrates the fundamental tenet of Leibnizian Optimism; Candide adheres to it for the majority of the story, but eventually disavows it.^[55]

Notably, Candide does not ridicule Voltaire's contemporary Alexander Pope, an avowed optimist. Instead, the attack is directed primarily at the deceased Leibniz. Indeed, Candide does not discuss Pope's optimistic principle that "all is right", but Leibniz's that states that this is the "best of all possible worlds". However subtle the difference between the two, Candide is unambiguous as to which is its subject. Some critics conjecture that Voltaire actually meant to spare Pope this ridicule, out of respect. Thus did Voltaire write the Poem for Pope and Candide for Leibniz. The former embodies a more serious philosophical argument; the latter less so.^[11]

Evil

As part of his discussion of Optimism, Voltaire exemplifies many different types of evil in the world. Many critics contend that Voltaire's treatment of evil – specifically the theological problem of its existence – is the main focus of the work.^[56] Heavily referenced in the text are the Lisbon earthquake, disease, and the sinking of ships in storms. Of course, ships are also sunk by humans. Indeed, war, thievery, and murder – evils of human design – are explored as extensively in Candide as environmental ones. As William Bottiglia notes, Voltaire is "comprehensive" in his enumeration of the world's evils.^[57]

Gardens

Critics have identified symbolic gardens in Voltaire's Candide. The first of these is the castle of the Baron, from which Candide and Cunégonde are evicted much in the same fashion as Adam and Eve are in the book of Genesis. Cyclically, the main characters of Candide conclude the novel in a garden of their own making, one which might represent Celestial paradise. The third most prominent "garden" is El Dorado, which may be symbolically a false Eden.^[58]

Other intermediary gardens may be seen in the Jesuit pavilion, the garden of Pococurante, Cacambo's garden, and the Turk's garden. These gardens share biblical references and are each symbolically significant. It has also been proposed that the gardens refer to the Encyclopédie, and that Candide's conclusion to cultivate his garden symbolizes Voltaire's great support for the endeavour.^[59]

Reception and criticism

Though Voltaire did not openly admit to having written the controversial Candide until 1768 (until then he signed with a pseudonym: "Monsieur le docteur Ralph", or "Doctor Ralph"^[60]), his authorship of the work was hardly disputed. Immediately after publication, the work and its author were denounced by secular and religious authorities alike.^[61]

By the end of February 1759, The Great Council of Geneva and the administrators of Paris had banned it.^[3] Candide nevertheless succeeded in selling 20,000–30,000 copies by the end of the year in over twenty editions, making it a best-seller. The Duke de La Vallière speculated near the end of January 1759 that Candide might have been the fastest-selling book ever.^[62] In 1762, Candide was listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the Catholic Church's list of prohibited books.^[3]

Conclusion

The conclusion of the novella, in which Candide finally dismisses his tutor's Optimism, leaves unresolved what philosophy is to be believed in its stead. This element of Candide has been written about voluminously, perhaps above all others.^[63] The conclusion, in which the protagonist and his fellow travelers finally settle down under the mantra "we must cultivate our garden", is enigmatic – probably intentionally so.

One of the primary debates concerns the degree to which Voltaire was advocating a pessimistic philosophy, by which Candide and his companions give up hope for a better world, as compared to a melioristic philosophy which resigns the travelers to commit themselves to improving the world through metaphorical gardening. This is debate on whether or not Voltaire was prescribing passive retreat from society or active, industrious contribution to it.^[64]

Of course, there is not one meaning to Candide but many meanings on many different levels. For instance, there is the literal sense referring to the necessary occupation of Candide and his companion with feeding themselves. There was also meaning for the author personally: Voltaire himself was a gardener at his estates in Les Délices and Ferney.^[65][66]

Voltaire develops no formal, systematic philosophy for the characters to adopt, but many philosophical and literary interpretations of the plot exist.^[67] Yet he does refute Optimism continuously, albeit artistically, theatrically, and informally. The conclusion of the novel may be thought of not as a philosophical alternative to Optimism, but as a prescribed practical outlook. Furthermore, some see in Candide's final resolve that of Voltaire, and see a strong connection between the development of the character and of the author.^[68] Some, though, disagree with this assertion, arguing instead that tending one's garden is not advocated at all, and that Candide's determination is not Voltaire's. Indeed, some wonder whether Candide might be considered a bildungsroman.^[69]

Inside/outside controversy

Roy Wolper argues in a revolutionary 1969 paper that Candide does not necessarily speak for its author – that the work should be viewed as a narrative independent of Voltaire's history and that its message is entirely (or mostly) inside it. This point of view, defended by Theodore E. D. Braun (1982), specifically rejects attempts to find Voltaire's "voice" in the many characters of Candide and his other works. Indeed, writers have seen Voltaire as speaking through Candide, Martin, the Turk. Wolper argues that Candide should be read with a minimum of speculation as to its meaning in Voltaire's personal life, and his article ushered in a new era of Voltaire studies, causing many scholars look at the novel differently.^[70][71]

Critics such as Lester Crocker, Henry Stavan, and Vivienne Mylne find too many similarities between Candide's point of view and that of Voltaire to accept Wolper's idea. For instance, some believe that the isolationist philosophy of the Old Turk closely mirrors that of Voltaire. Others see a strong parallel between Candide's gardening activities at the conclusion and the habits of the author.^[72] Martine Darmon Meyer argues, however, that insiders fail to see the satirical work in context, and that denying that Candide is primarily a mockery of Optimism (a matter of historical context) is a "very basic betrayal of the text".^[73][74]

Legacy

Aside from being a successful traditional – and very humorous – satire, Candide has had a significant influence on modern writers of black humor such as Céline, Heller, Barth, Pynchon, Vonnegut, and Southern. Its parody and picaresque methods have become favorites of black humorists.^[75]

Candide is not only the most widely read of Voltaire's many works,^[76] it is one of the most popular books in all of Western literature.^[specify] It certainly is considered one of the greatest achievements of the Western body of literary works.^[77] There is general consensus among experts that Candide should be considered a masterpiece for its artistic and literary excellence.

This should be qualified: Candide is not necessarily considered a true "classic". According to Bottiglia, "The physical size of Candide, as well as Voltaire's attitude toward his fiction, precludes the achievement of artistic dimension through plenitude, autonomous '3D' vitality, emotional resonance, or poetic exaltation. Candide, then, cannot in quantity of quality, measure up to the supreme classics." Bottiglia instead calls it a miniature one. Others are more forgiving toward its size.^[78]

As the only work of Voltaire's which has stood the test of time,^[specify] Candide is listed in The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages[1]. It has been named as one of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and one of the 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written. It is included in the Encyclopedia Britannica collection Great Books of the Western World.[2]

Adaptations and derivative works

Seconde partie (Part two)

In 1760, one year after Voltaire published Candide, a sequel to his novella was published with the name Candide, ou l'optimisme, seconde partie.^[79] This was attributed both to Thorel de Campigneulles, "a now largely unknown writer of third-rate moralising novels", and Henri Joseph Du Laurens, who is suspected of having habitually plagiarised Voltaire.^[80] The story continues in this sequel with Candide having new adventures in the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and Denmark. The work has potential use in studies of the popular and literary receptions of Candide.^[81]

Bernstein's operetta

Main article: Candide (operetta)

Leonard Bernstein, a composer and conductor in the United States, wrote the music to an operetta based on Voltaire's Candide.^[82] It was originally conceived by Lillian Hellman as a play with incidental music. Bernstein, however, was so excited about this idea that he convinced Hellman to do it as a "comic operetta"; she did the original book for the operetta^[clarify]. Many lyricists worked on the show, including James Agee, then Dorothy Parker, John Latouche, Richard Wilbur, Leonard and Felicia Bernstein, and Hellman. Hershy Kay orchestrated all the pieces except the overture, which Bernstein wrote himself.^[83]

Candide the operetta first opened on Broadway as a musical on December 1, 1956. The premiere production was directed by Tyrone Guthrie and conducted by Samuel Krachmalnick.^[84] While this production was a box office flop, the music was highly praised, and an original cast album was made. This album gradually became a cult hit. But Hellman's libretto, partly as a reaction to her being blacklisted, was criticized in a The New York Times review as being too serious an adaptation of Voltaire's novel.^[85] Candide the operetta would eventually triumph seventeen years later, with a new libretto by Hugh Wheeler, which was much more faithful to both the spirit and the letter of Voltaire.^[specify]

Others

Candido ovvero un sogno fatto in Sicilia or simply Candido is a work by Leonardo Sciascia which was based on Voltaire's book. The actual influence of Candide on Candido is, however, a hotly debated topic. A number of theories on the matter have been proposed. One says that Candido is Candide with a happy ending; another proposes that Voltaire provided Sciascia with only a starting point from which to work.^[86] Candido was published in 1977 in Torino.^[specify]

Nedim Gürsel wrote his 2001 novel Le voyage de Candide à Istanbul about a minor passage in Candide where its protagonist meets in passing Ahmed III, the deposed Turkish sultan. This chance meeting on a ship from Venice to Istanbul is the setting of Gürsel's book.^[87]

Other adaptations of Candide include a modern version in X Out of Wonderland (2005) by David Allan Cates.^[specify] There is also Fanfluche (1892) by Quatrelles.^[88] In addition, Candide was made into a number of minor films and theatrical adaptations throughout the 20th century. For a list of these, see Voltaire: Candide ou L'Optimisme et autres contes (1989) with preface and commentaries by Pierre Malandain.^[89]

Footnotes

Bibliography