Books by Voltaire

Candide: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Language Guides French)

by Shane Weller, Voltaire

Evergreen in its appeal, Candide makes us laugh at human folly and marvel at our reluctance to face reality and the truth. Voltaire's brilliant satire, first published in Paris in 1759, is relentless and unsparing. Virtue and vice, religion and romance, philosophy and science — all are fair game.
Through the adventures of young Candide, his love Cunégonde, and his mentor Dr. Pangloss, we experience life's most crushing misfortunes. And we see the redeeming wisdom those misfortunes can bring — all the while enjoying Voltaire's witty burlesque of human excess.
In this unique volume, readers who wish to follow every nuance of Voltaire's classic tale in the original French can do so with the aid of a new and exacting English translation on facing pages. Shane Weller's critical introduction illuminates the satire of Candide and the reasons for its enduring appeal.

CANDIDE OR OPTIMISM (CLASSICS S.)

by Voltaire

"All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds"

It was the indifferent shrug and callous inertia that this "optimism" concealed which so angered Voltaire, who found the "all for the best" approach a patently inadequate response to suffering, to natural disasters, not to mention the questions of illness and man-made war. Moreover, as the rebel whose satiric genius had earned him not only international acclaim, but two stays in the Bastille, flogging, and exile, Voltaire knew personally what suffering entailed. In Candide he whisks his young hero and friends through a ludicrous variety of tortures, tragedies, and a reversal of fortune, in the company of Pangloss, a "metaphysico-theologo-comolo-nigologist" of unflinching optimism. The result is one of the glories of eighteenth-century satire.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Treatise on Toleration (Penguin Classics)

by Voltaire

One of the most important essays on religious tolerance and freedom of thought, a French bestseller in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks

In 1762 Jean Calas, a merchant from Toulouse, was executed after being falsely accused of killing his son. As it became clear that Calas was in fact persecuted for being a Protestant, Voltaire began a campaign to get his sentence overturned—and in the process made the case for some of the most important values upheld by the Enlightenment, from religious tolerance to freedom of thought. Treatise on Toleration is the story of that case and a screed against fanaticism—a book that is as fresh and urgent today as it was when it was first published in 1763.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary (Oxford World's Classics)

by Voltaire, John Fletcher, Nicholas Cronk

Here is the only available English translation of one of the landmarks of European Enlightenment thought, Voltaire's 1764 edition of A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary. Highly entertaining and still highly relevant, the "dictionary" actually consists of a sequence of short essays, arranged in alphabetical order, covering everything from Apocalypse and Atheism to Tolerance and Tyranny. The unifying thread of these articles is Voltaire's vitriolic critique of established religion: ridicule of established dogma, attacks on superstition, and pleas for toleration. Witty and ironic, this is very much a work of combat, part of Voltaire's high-profile political struggle in the 1760s to defend the victims of religious and political intolerance. This new translation is based on the definitive French edition of 1764 that provoked widespread controversy and condemnation. In his Introduction Nicholas Cronk considers the nature of Voltaire's engagement in political debate, literary style, contemporary reaction, the lasting impact of the work and its continuing relevance to debates on religious intolerance. The volume also includes an up-to-date bibliography and full explanatory notes.

Candide (Bantam Classics)

by Voltaire

Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan. Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher's immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that -- contrary to the teachings of his distringuished tutor Dr. Pangloss -- all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire's most celebrated work.

Candide: or, Optimism

by Voltaire

In this splendid new translation of Voltaire’s satiric masterpiece, all the celebrated wit, irony, and trenchant social commentary of one of the great works of the Enlightenment is restored and refreshed.

Voltaire may have cast a jaundiced eye on eighteenth-century Europe–a place that was definitely not the “best of all possible worlds.” But amid its decadent society, despotic rulers, civil and religious wars, and other ills, Voltaire found a mother lode of comic material. And this is why Peter Constantine’s thoughtful translation is such a pleasure, presenting all the book’s subtlety and ribald joys precisely as Voltaire had intended.

The globe-trotting misadventures of the youthful Candide; his tutor, Dr. Pangloss; Martin, and the exceptionally trouble-prone object of Candide’s affections, Cunégonde, as they brave exile, destitution, cannibals, and numerous deprivation, provoke both belly laughs and deep contemplation about the roles of hope and suffering in human life.

The transformation of Candide’s outlook from panglossian optimism to realism neatly lays out Voltaire’s philosophy–that even in Utopia, life is less about happiness than survival–but not before providing us with one of literature’s great and rare pleasures.

Candide Ou L'Optimisme (Dans la Meme Collection) (French Edition)

by Voltaire

Candide ou l'Optimisme est un conte philosophique de Voltaire paru à Genève en janvier 1759. Il a été réédité vingt fois du vivant de l'auteur, ce qui en fait l'un des plus grands succès littéraires francophones. Seulement un mois après sa parution, six mille exemplaires avaient été vendus. Ce nombre est considérable pour l'époque.Prétendument traduit du docteur Ralph (qui, en réalité, n'est que le pseudonyme utilisé par Voltaire), avec les additions qu'on a trouvées dans la poche du docteur, cette oeuvre, ironique dès les premières lignes, ne laisse aucun doute sur l'origine de l'auteur, qui ne pouvait qu'être du parti des philosophes.Candide est également un récit de formation, récit d'un voyage qui transformera son héros éponyme en philosophe, un Télémaque d'un genre nouveau.

Candide Voltaire (Larousse) (French Edition)

by Voltaire

"Qu'est-ce qu'optimisme ? disait Cacambo. - Hélas! dit Candide, c'est la rage de soutenir que tout est bien quand on est mal". L' uvre la plus célèbre de Voltaire, un des textes français les plus universellement connus, démontre trois choses : que le monde va mal, et qu'il pourrait aller mieux, si l'on commençait par dire moins de bêtises. En attendant, mieux vaut rire que pleurer, tout en cultivant notre jardin. Candide conjugue la philosophie et le comique.

Zadig and L'Ingénu (Penguin Classics)

by Voltaire

One of Voltaire's earliest tales, Zadig is set in the exotic East and is told in the comic spirit of Candide; L'Ingenu, written after Candide, is a darker tale in which an American Indian records his impressions of France

The Portable Voltaire (Portable Library)

by Voltaire, Francois Maria Arouet De Voltaire

Includes Part One of Candide; three stories; selections from The Philosophical Dictionary, The Lisbon Earthquake, and other works; and thirty-five letters.

Voltaire: Treatise on Tolerance (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)

by Voltaire

The works presented in this volume, in a new English translation, are among the most important and characteristic texts of the Enlightenment, and bring together all three aspects of Voltaire: the writer, the doer and the philosophe. Originating in Voltaire's campaign to exonerate Jean Calas, they are works of polemical brilliance, informed by his deism and humanism and by Enlightenment values and ideals more generally. The issues that they raise, concerning questions of tolerance and human dignity, are still highly relevant to our own times.

Lettres sur les Anglais (French Edition)

by Voltaire

Originally published in 1931 and reprinted many times after that, this book contains the French text of Voltaire's 23 essays on aspects of life in England in the eighteenth century. Wilson-Green includes a biography of Voltaire and an analysis of the letters, in addition to detailed notes on each essay. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Voltaire or in Anglo-French relations.

Micromégas, Zadig, Candide N.É. (French Edition)

by Voltaire

"Il faut être très court, et un peu salé, sans quoi les ministres et madame de Pompadour, les commis et les femmes de chambre, font des papillotes du livre." Brièveté et mordant, telles sont les principales qualités de Micromégas, Zadig et Candide, les trois contes de Voltaire les plus célèbres, traversés par deux motifs : le philosophe dans le monde, le bonheur par la philosophie. Chassé de sa planète, Micromégas - un jeune géant de près de sept cents ans - entame un périple cosmique qui le mènera à ces "petites mites" qu'on appelle les hommes. En proie aux caprices du sort, l'Oriental Zadig fera la rencontre d'un ermite à la barbe blanche, détenteur du livre des destinées où tout est écrit. Quant à Candide, contraint de quitter le château de Thunder-ten-tronckh, il apprendra à ses dépens que tout n'est pas pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes...

Letters Concerning the English Nation (Oxford World's Classics)

by Voltaire

Inspired by Voltaire's two-year stay in England (1726-8), this is one of the key works of the Enlightenment. His controversial pronouncements on politics, philosophy, religion, and literature have placed the Letters among the great Augustan satires.
Voltaire wrote most of the book in English, in which he was fluent and witty, and it fast became a bestseller in Britain. He re-wrote it in French as the Lettres Philosophiques, and current editions in English translate his French. This edition restores for the modern reader Voltaire's own English text, allowing us to appreciate him as a stylist at first hand. It is the only critical edition of the original text and, as well as providing an introduction and notes, it includes intriguing accounts of Voltaire by contemporary English observers.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Candide and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

by Voltaire

Candide is the most famous of Voltaire's "philosophical tales," in which he combined witty improbabilities with the sanest of good sense. First published in 1759, it was an instant bestseller and has come to be regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. What Candide does for chivalric romance, the other tales in this selection--Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull--do for science fiction, the Oriental tale, the sentimental novel, and the Old Testament. The most extensive one-volume selection currently available, this new edition includes a new verse translation of the story Voltaire based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale: What Pleases the Ladies and opens with a revised introduction that reflects recent critical debates, including a new section on Candide.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Candide: or Optimism

by Voltaire

The translation of choice for twenty-first-century readers of Voltaire's satiric masterpiece.

In this new translation of Voltaire’s Candide, distinguished translator Burton Raffel captures the French novel’s irreverent spirit and offers a vivid, contemporary version of the 250-year-old text. Raffel casts the novel in an English idiom that--had Voltaire been a twenty-first-century American--he might himself have employed. The translation is immediate and unencumbered, and for the first time makes Voltaire the satirist a wicked pleasure for English-speaking readers.

Candide recounts the fantastically improbable travels, adventures, and misfortunes of the young Candide, his beloved Cunégonde, and his devoutly optimistic tutor, Pangloss. Endowed at the start with good fortune and every prospect for happiness and success, the characters nevertheless encounter every conceivable misfortune. Voltaire’s philosophical tale, in part an ironic attack on the optimistic thinking of such figures as G. W. Leibniz and Alexander Pope, has proved enormously influential over the years. In a general introduction to this volume, historian Johnson Kent Wright places Candide in the contexts of Voltaire’s life and work and the Age of Enlightenment.

Philosophical Letters: (Letters Concerning the English Nation)

by Voltaire

Best known for his philosophical novel Candide, Voltaire ranked among the leading intellectuals of the Enlightenment period. His two-and-a-half-year sojourn in England left a profound impression, and these letters — written as though explaining English society to a French friend — focus on the country's religion and politics, with commentaries on Quakers, the Church of England, Presbyterians, Anti-Trinitarians, Parliament, the government, and commerce. They also include essays on Locke, Descartes, and Newton. Voltaire was much influenced by English tolerance, and his observations on the subject sounded a revolutionary note among European readers that resonated for long afterward. First published in English in 1733, Philosophical Letters was condemned by the French government as "likely to inspire a license of thought most dangerous to religion and civil order." It remains a landmark of the Age of Reason.

Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories

by Voltaire

France’s most distinguished man of letters

This essential collection from the genius Voltaire includes his masterpiece and best-known work Candide, as well as his novel Zadig and fourteen short stories: “Micromegas,” “The World as It Is,” “Memnon,” “Bababec and the Fakirs,” “History of Scarmentado’s Travels,” “Plato’s Dream,” “Account of the Sickness, Confession, Death, and Apparition of the Jesuit Berthier,” “Story of a Good Brahman,” “Jeannot and Colin,” “An Indian Adventure,” “Ingenuous,” “The One-Eyed Porter,” “Memory’s Adventure,” “Count Chesterfield’s Ears,” and “Chaplain Goudman.”

Candide: or, Optimism (Modern Library Classics)

by Voltaire

In this splendid new translation of Voltaire’s satiric masterpiece, all the celebrated wit, irony, and trenchant social commentary of one of the great works of the Enlightenment is restored and refreshed.

Voltaire may have cast a jaundiced eye on eighteenth-century Europe–a place that was definitely not the “best of all possible worlds.” But amid its decadent society, despotic rulers, civil and religious wars, and other ills, Voltaire found a mother lode of comic material. And this is why Peter Constantine’s thoughtful translation is such a pleasure, presenting all the book’s subtlety and ribald joys precisely as Voltaire had intended.

The globe-trotting misadventures of the youthful Candide; his tutor, Dr. Pangloss; Martin, and the exceptionally trouble-prone object of Candide’s affections, Cunégonde, as they brave exile, destitution, cannibals, and numerous deprivation, provoke both belly laughs and deep contemplation about the roles of hope and suffering in human life.

The transformation of Candide’s outlook from panglossian optimism to realism neatly lays out Voltaire’s philosophy–that even in Utopia, life is less about happiness than survival–but not before providing us with one of literature’s great and rare pleasures.

Candide and Related Texts

by Voltaire

David Wootton's scalpel-sharp translation of Candide features a brilliant Introduction, a map of Candide's travels, and a selection of those writings of Voltaire, Leibniz, Pope and Rousseau crucial for fully appreciating this eighteenth-century satiric masterpiece that even today retains its celebrated bite.

Voltaire: Philosophical Letters: Or, Letters Regarding the English Nation (Hackett Classics)

by Voltaire

In his Philosophical Letters, Voltaire provides a pungent and often satirical assessment of the religion, politics, science, and arts of the England he observed during his nearly three-year exile. In addition to the Letters, this edition provides a translation of Voltaire's Proposal for a Letter about the English, a general Introduction, chronology, notes, and bibliography.

Candide: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

by Voltaire

Candide has been delighting readers since 1759 with its satiric wit, provocations, and warnings. The novella has never been out of print and has been translated into every conceivable language. The text of this Norton Critical Edition remains that of Robert M. Adams’s superlative translation, accompanied by explanatory annotations.

The Norton Critical Edition also includes:
· A full introduction by Nicholas Cronk.
· Six background studies of Enlightenment ideas and themes (by Richard Holmes, Adam Gopnik, W. H. Barber, Dennis Fletcher, Haydn Mason, and Nicholas Cronk), five of these new to the Third Edition.
· Seven critical essays―five of them new to this edition―representing a wide range of approaches to Candide. Contributors include J. G. Weightman, Robin Howells, James J. Lynch, Philip Stewart, Erich Auerbach, and Jean Starobinski.
· A revised and expanded Selected Bibliography.

Candide (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

by Voltaire

"As fresh and pertinent as ever." -Julian Barnes, The Guardian

A NEWLY REVISED EDITION

Candide, Voltaire's magnum opus, is a matchless satirical takedown of religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers. The novella unfolds as the sheltered and privileged Candide, a young man enraptured by his facile mentor Pangloss, experiences the hardships and injustices of life, forcing him to abandon the naïve notion that "all is for the best" in favor of a practical determination that life is best lived "cultivating one's garden." Considered by many to be one of the greatest achievements of Western literature, Candide has influenced modern writers of black humor such as Céline, Joseph Heller, John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, and Terry Southern. This Warbler Classics edition includes extensive notes, a comprehensive glossary, and a detailed biographical timeline of Voltaire's life and work.

Candide

by Voltaire

A new, beautifully laid-out, easy-to-read edition of Voltaire's Candide.

Candide is Voltaire's 1759 satirical masterpiece, wreaking havoc on the excesses of 18th century French Enlightenment culture. The story begins with our protagonist Candide, a young man living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. This idyllic life is abruptly interrupted, however, by a series of painfully disillusioning events that set him off on a wide-ranging journey.

François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit and his advocacy for freedom of speech and religion.

Candide and L'Ingénu

by Voltaire

Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a witty, bantering tale, this eighteenth-century classic is actually a savage, satiric thrust at the philosophical optimism that proclaims that all disaster and human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan. Fast, funny, often outrageous, the French philosopher's immortal narrative takes Candide around the world to discover that -- contrary to the teachings of his distinguished tutor Dr. Pangloss -- all is not always for the best. Alive with wit, brilliance, and graceful storytelling, Candide has become Voltaire's most celebrated work.

This edition also includes Voltaire's satirical novella, L'Ingenue, which tells the story of a Frenchman named "Child of Nature" who had been raised by Hurons and who has returned to his fatherland, in the French province of Brittany. Once there, he gets a glimpse of the corruption of the realm and befalls victim of it.