Loved this book when I read it in college. Do I get extra points for having struggled through it in French? I was determined, I had a really large dictionnaire, and I knew it just well enough to realize that even an excellent translation wouldn't be the same as Voltaire's original.

I've downloaded it in e-book form courtesy of Project Gutenberg now, so one of these days when I'm at a loose end I'll re-read it in English. ( )

What do you say about one of the most famous satires of the western cannon written in 1759 by French philosopher Voltaire?

It’s biting political and religious satire featuring our friend, Candide, a naïve young man trying to make sense of the world while living through a series of misadventures after he is ejected from his very pleasant youthful life .

He has been taught by his tutor, Professor Pangloss, that everything works out for the best and that we live in the best of all worlds; that everything has evolved to precisely this point of perfection because of the perfection that went before. For example one of Pangloss’s assertions is that eyeglasses being the shape they are shows the perfection of the shape of the nose.

I’ve never been a great fan of comedy by absurdity, but what really struck me is that many of our institutions such as the church, ruling countries, armies and our ideas of paradise haven’t come that far in the almost 300 years since this was written.

Juvenal once said, "It is difficult not to write satire", meaning that even if he put ink to paper with different intentions, his worldview would press him on in one direction. He and Voltaire would have got along famously, I suspect. ( )

Talk about witticism and humor. The latter, rather subjective, mixes well on the former, thus forming a wondrous work called satire.

From the most stretched, overly-exaggerated scenarios and happenings, Candide, the open-minded philosopher, greatly influenced by his revered adviser Pangloss, who thinks that 'all is for the best', which happens to be the same title of the novel, are both comical at most. The story revolves on his topsy-turvy experiences, his dubious ponderings on the truth, and his eventual disagreement to his great teacher.

This book, which is considered a classic, is perhaps not a classic since it's creation. Voltaire probably doubt that this would be one of the most profound and critically-acclaimed work in the history of literature. It is not probably in the league within the profound works of Homer, Virgil, Cicero, and the greatly-jeered Milton, which the book greatly mocks its pretentious quality, this book surmounts the greatness of content through the use of wit and satire.

This fast-paced satire is easy, concise, and greatly entertaining. Every chapter is a new adventure, and there are underlying comments regarding the real-world problems and perhaps analogous content, but it is the sole purpose of making such a satirical literature. ( )

Miellyttävän helppolukuinen, suhteellisen mielenkiintoinen ja muutenkin mukava kirjanen. En minä osaa tästä paljon muuta sanoa kuin että kannattaa lukea. ( )