Candide (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Brilliant Story, Horrible Translation

Candide was a beautiful story, filled with humor, love, and lots of humor. I think the story is still stimulating even after hundreds of years!

I recently read this for my Classics Book Club and we all took turns reading various passages from our varying translations of the book, which is something we tend to do each month. My only complaint about the story is this: the Morley translation (of the B&N Classics version) was AWFUL!

All of the beautiful, poetic passages that the others in my group read aloud were translated as drivel in my copy (the only one with the B&N version of this book in our group). It seemed as if Mr. Morley literally translated the French to English (such as "the horse brown" instead of "the brown horse") and thus, lost much of the wonderful wordsmithing of Voltaire. I almost cried when it was my turn to read the opening passage because I knew the B&N version was horrible!

Aside from the horrible translation, I would recommend this story to anyone. I wouldn't however, recommend THIS translation of the story. Sorry B&N...

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Brilliant story, terrible translation

Candide as a story is worth reading in any language, although it is much funnier and much more enjoyable in original French. However, the reason for that may just be that this is a very poor translation. The language is more archaic than in the original, and many subtleties are lost through poor word choice (for example, in this version Martin "hopes" that all is for the best, while in the original he pessimistically "wishes" that everything was indeed AT ITS BEST). Nevertheless, Candide is a witty and brilliant story that can be enjoyed for philosophical enlightenment or simply for a rainy day. I would recommend, though, that if you're going to read it in English, get a different edition. Normally B&N Classics are nice, quality editions, but this is sadly an exception.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Somewhat funny

This book is said to be funny, I found it amusing. I think some people may not understand or be able to stick with Voltaire.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

An excellent Read

This book is definately one of the best things I've read in a while. The humor is great, and the characters all seem to fit in a way that makes the story an interesting one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

quixotic if not aloof

Candide' well deserves the title of social satire. The first five chapters allude to the quixoticness of the elite during Voltaire's time. Candides position as a philosopher is amusing in several instances...consider the scene where Candide hides from the war...here's a philosopher pondering reality as he steps over cadavers and carcasses, then to make things worse, he ignores the secular beliefs of the people, eventually insulting sanctity itself... 'Candide' deserves to be read over and over again. Ultimatly it's relevance towards our society, even our political structure maintains a sharp, knife-like truth.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good book but BIG mistake at the end

When you are reading the end of the book, there is a list of kings that died horrible deaths. This book says Henry IV of England was one of those kings. Henry IV died of natural causes. Perhaps it was meant to be Henry VI and it is a typo. I'd be interested to see the original Voltaire and what he wrote.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A beautiful slap to the face

I loved Candide for its blatent criticism of Leibniz, bleeding with sarcasm and disgust from every page. It is just so cool (for the lack of a better term) that Voltaire wrote a novel just to trash an opposing viewpoint. This book actually made me laugh while reading about the inquisition.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Silly, Ridiculous, and Alarming

I had not known much about Voltaire before reading this book. I only knew that he was a figure in enlightenment thinking and Samuel Johnson threw a hissy fit when you mentioned him. The short biography in this B&N version was informative. Candide is kind of an autobiographical satire on the philosophy of Leibniz. No one, from clergy to kings is spared in the lampooning. I was entertained and I learned about philosophy in the process.

Beautifully written!

Voltaire is unrelenting in his critique and attack of deterministic optimism and Leibnz cosmology. Each character and each event that transpires only exists to lambast this philosophy. Even better, the final pages leave one wrestling with yourself whether optimism or pessimism is the best philosophy to live life, or questioning the power of pragmatic philosophy. Voltaire perfectly captures problems of theodicy as well as the existence of life itself--both the beauty of existence and the idleness of life.

Beautifully disparaging

Candid is utterly tragic, and yet magnificent humor is so cleverly entwined. I found myself laughing throughout the novel. It is profound and beautifully disparaging, and I will read this over again and again.

Excellent stuff

A great read for anyone interested in history and philosophy

Highly recomended

Loved it! It even had illustrations that showed nicely on my nook.

links don't work

Very misleading! The table of contents does not work right, and the footnotes are not hyper-linked. It was terrible trying to navigate around the text.

Relevant and entertaining adventure-comedy-commentary.

This is a title that I'd often heard mentioned, but never really picked up anything regarding its subject or author. I'd heard Voltaire mentioned by teachers and in various conversation, but never really looked into his writings. So, when Candide popped up in one of the Barnes & Noble free eBook offerings, I was quite happy to read it and learn a bit about the author. After reading a bit about Voltaire on Wikipedia, I had a good idea of what to expect in reading this book. Overall, it fits the bill of being a satire of religious dogma and Leibniz's optimistic philosophy. This is an aspect that I can appreciate, especially given a lot of the things going on in the world today. Poking at those who rely solely upon tenets and beliefs without actually acting to make anything happen is always welcome. This sort of laziness and reliance solely on mystical magical supreme powers has always made me twitch. Voltaire does create a very fast-paced mock-adventure story that at times is difficult to follow. The fantastical and often unreal situations in which the characters find themselves, coupled with the pace of the story, is as disorienting as it is engaging. I found myself having to slow down reading the book at times as I would get lost in the whirlwind of events. The caricatures Voltaire describes do well to compile all of the disturbing characteristics of the zealots encountered during his time and that we find even today. I can see why the book was banned at the time. It's not often that governments or religious groups can handle being mocked or shown less respect than they deem that they deserve. When those governments or religious groups have been granted or have assumed adequate power over the people, they tend to suppress all that they feel detracts from their stature or power. Fortunately, there are authors from the past and in our current day that will use various literary vehicles to express themselves thereby exposing their views to the public. While we are in no way obliged to accept their views completely, having the opportunity to asses their merit for ourselves is something we should embrace. Candide is short, but dense with detail. Read it with an open mind and abstract what's on the page to what is "out there" in our day and you will see how relevant Voltaire's commentary is today.

"Work keeps at bay three great evils: boredom, vice, and need."

I loved Candide and could not put it down. It's true, there's nothing especially ground-breaking in this little tale. However, it's still a nice read, thought-provoking in so many ways, and the satire can be ridiculously hilarious at times.

If you want to read it, go for it.

Candide, my son.

A great classic of satirical literature, to be ranked with Tristram Shandy and Catch 22. If you haven't read it, you must, in order to put it into your stockpile of greatness. If you haven't read it for a long time, it will reward your renewed interest. The persevering Candide, the badly used lovely Cunegonde, the preacher of totally undeserving optimism, Professor Pangloss. And that final garden, that final garden.

Absurdly Redundant Satire

Candide equals satire. Most regrettably, this was satire in its base form--unrealistic misfortunes piled one on top of the other. The pile was so high and glaringly fake in composition that it became almost a chore to read. Put bluntly, the satire in Candide was even more pathetic than my previous analogy.

The moral of Voltaire's dissatisfying work was short and to the point--making common sense to any reader. However, there seems to be no logical reason in finishing the book once one makes it past the third or fourth chapter, as it simply repeats egregious calamities endured by various characters.

The conclusion I came to was that Voltaire's Candide is only to be -skimmed- if ALL other classics have been thoroughly perused; or, if one is intently set on having their intelligence flogged more often than Candide himself. Candide: a repetitive misery of a satire.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Darkly Humorous

"Candide" is a very, ah, shall we say amusing novella? It is filled with philosophical wit and a surprising amount of death. Almost all of the characters die in an attack, an auto-de-fa, or from an argument. It is a good book!

Timeless wisdom and humor!

Candide may be my all-time favorite book. I re-read it after nearly 30 years, and again, it made me laugh out loud and stretched my intellect. It offers timeless wisdom for how to live in a world which is often violent, brutal, mysterious, and unpredictable.

Definately worth reading

Most times, when thinking of reading classics, people would probably think of dictionary-thick novels written by oldies. But Candide is a great read. Voltaire's humorous, satirical, and sarcastic tone makes the overall classic fun to read. And it's full of philosophies; definately intellectual-stimulating.