(Please click on one of the 18 titles below to access your chosen topic)
1) SUMMARY OF CANDIDE WITH COMMENTARY
Right - In this old edition of "Candide", Voltaire conceals his identity
2) Voltaire - His life and character
Pictured below
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3) The literary genre to which "Candide" belongs.
The BBC Jonathan Swift webpage to which reference is made can be reached with this link:"Gulliver's Travels": How it Comments on Society
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(Voltaire’s aim in the book was to attack Philosophical Optimism and there are four sections, 4-7 below, to cover this topic :)
4) Optimistic Philosophy in the eighteenth century
5) Direct references to Philosophical Optimism in Candide6) Voltaire's hostility to Philosophical Optimism
7) Voltaire's evidence against Philosophical Optimism
Above right a picture of one of his pieces of evidence - The disastrous Lisbon earthquake------------------------------------------------------------------------
(If Voltaire is attacking optimism, we ask the question whether this makes for a gloomy, pessimistic book? Topics 8- 10 below are relevant to this question)
8) Is "Candide" a totally pessimistic book?
9) What is Candide's final philosophy of life?
10) Voltaire's literary style (This topic is relevant to the question of pessimism also because the style serves to dispel any gloomy tone)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Finally we discuss the characters in topics 11- 18)
11) Are the characters merely puppets?
12) The Character of Candide
13) The character of Pangloss
14) The character of Cunegonde
Picture right - Cunegonde and Candide are caught behind the screen after she had invited him to join her in a human biological experiment15) The character of the German Jesuit Baron
16) The character of the old woman
17) The character of Cacambo
18)The character of Martin
Below - The Auto-da-fe at which Candide had a starring role, burnt over a slow fire as a heretic, at a religious service, in front of a huge congregation, which included Cunegonde.
LINKS TO MY OTHER FRENCH LITERATURE NOTES
Anatole France – Les Dieux ont Soif – Summary and Historical Background |
Balzac – Le Père Goriot - Summary and Topics |
Brassens – 70 songs with translationsCarla Bruni- 30 songs - French/ English and vice versa |
Camus – L’étranger - Summary and Topics |
Camus – La Chute - Summary and Topics |
Duhamel- Le Notaire du Havre - Summary and Topics |
Mme de Lafayette – La Princesse de Clèves - Summary and Topics |
Voltaire – Candide - Summary and TopicsPagnol -Le Château de ma mère Summary - Background -Pagnol's biography |