Candide and Other Stories

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 exten...