CANDIDE, the satirical novella by Voltaire, is one of the great works of philosophical literature. First published in 1759, the book takes a darkly comic sideswipe at the inordinate optimism of those who believed that “all is for the best in this best of possible worlds”.
Contemplating terrible events, such as the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, in which appalling suffering seemed indiscriminate, Voltaire spins his young protagonist, Candide, out of his sheltered, academic paradise. So influential did the novella become that it bequeathed to humanity the adjective “Panglossian” (a reference to Candide’s hyper-optimistic teacher Dr Pangloss).
