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Zadig. Candide : filosoofilised muinasjutud
Kui Napoleon Bonaparte'i peetakse kõigi aegade kuulsaimaks prantslaseks, siis Voltaire on kindlapeale kõigi aegade kõige targem prantslane. On isegi neid, kes peavad 18. sajandit Voltaire'i (1694-1778) sajandiks.
Voltaire'i ilukirjanduslikust loomingust paeluvad tänapäeva lugejat eelkõige tema filosoofilised muinasjutud, mis mõeldud lugemiseks täiskasvanuile: «Zadig», «Micromégas», «Candide», «Jeannot ja Collin», «Kohtlane», «Babüloonia printsess».
«Europeia» kogumik sisaldab Voltaire'i kaht kuulsamat muinasjuttu: «Zadig» ja «Candide». Enne lugema asumist oleks vist kasulik teada, et esimene sõna tähendab araabia keeles «saatust», sõna candide tähendab aga prantsuse keeles «süütukest, lihtsameelset». Tore oleks, kui ka meie, põhjamaa karge rahvas, oma surmtõsiste probleemide juures maailma asju niisama elurõõmsalt lahkaksime. See oleks peaaegu võimalik, kui vähemalt Voltaire'i need kaks muinasjuttu keskkooli kohustuslikuks lektüüriks kuulutataks.
Lauri Leesi
Voltaire'i ilukirjanduslikust loomingust paeluvad tänapäeva lugejat eelkõige tema filosoofilised muinasjutud, mis mõeldud lugemiseks täiskasvanuile: «Zadig», «Micromégas», «Candide», «Jeannot ja Collin», «Kohtlane», «Babüloonia printsess».
«Europeia» kogumik sisaldab Voltaire'i kaht kuulsamat muinasjuttu: «Zadig» ja «Candide». Enne lugema asumist oleks vist kasulik teada, et esimene sõna tähendab araabia keeles «saatust», sõna candide tähendab aga prantsuse keeles «süütukest, lihtsameelset». Tore oleks, kui ka meie, põhjamaa karge rahvas, oma surmtõsiste probleemide juures maailma asju niisama elurõõmsalt lahkaksime. See oleks peaaegu võimalik, kui vähemalt Voltaire'i need kaks muinasjuttu keskkooli kohustuslikuks lektüüriks kuulutataks.
Lauri Leesi
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 30, 1767
About the author
Voltaire
8,692 books4,531 followersComplete works (1880) : https://archive.org/details/oeuvresco...
In 1694, Age of Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. Jesuit-educated, he began writing clever verses by the age of 12. He launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille. Upon a second imprisonment, in which Francois adopted the pen name Voltaire, he was released after agreeing to move to London. There he wrote Lettres philosophiques (1733), which galvanized French reform. The book also satirized the religious teachings of Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, including Pascal's famed "wager" on God. Voltaire wrote: "The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing." Voltaire's French publisher was sent to the Bastille and Voltaire had to escape from Paris again, as judges sentenced the book to be "torn and burned in the Palace." Voltaire spent a calm 16 years with his deistic mistress, Madame du Chatelet, in Lorraine. He met the 27 year old married mother when he was 39. In his memoirs, he wrote: "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did, and decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." He dedicated Traite de metaphysique to her. In it the Deist candidly rejected immortality and questioned belief in God. It was not published until the 1780s. Voltaire continued writing amusing but meaty philosophical plays and histories. After the earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755, in which 15,000 people perished and another 15,000 were wounded, Voltaire wrote Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster): "But how conceive a God supremely good/ Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,/ Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?"
Voltaire purchased a chateau in Geneva, where, among other works, he wrote Candide (1759). To avoid Calvinist persecution, Voltaire moved across the border to Ferney, where the wealthy writer lived for 18 years until his death. Voltaire began to openly challenge Christianity, calling it "the infamous thing." He wrote Frederick the Great: "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." Voltaire ended every letter to friends with "Ecrasez l'infame" (crush the infamy — the Christian religion). His pamphlet, The Sermon on the Fifty (1762) went after transubstantiation, miracles, biblical contradictions, the Jewish religion, and the Christian God. Voltaire wrote that a true god "surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough," or inspired "books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror." He also published excerpts of Testament of the Abbe Meslier, by an atheist priest, in Holland, which advanced the Enlightenment. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary was published in 1764 without his name. Although the first edition immediately sold out, Geneva officials, followed by Dutch and Parisian, had the books burned. It was published in 1769 as two large volumes. Voltaire campaigned fiercely against civil atrocities in the name of religion, writing pamphlets and commentaries about the barbaric execution of a Huguenot trader, who was first broken at the wheel, then burned at the stake, in 1762. Voltaire's campaign for justice and restitution ended with a posthumous retrial in 1765, during which 40 Parisian judges declared the defendant innocent. Voltaire urgently tried to save the life of Chevalier de la Barre, a 19 year old sentenced to death for blasphemy for failing to remove his hat during a religious procession. In 1766, Chevalier was beheaded after being tortured, then his body was burned, along with a copy of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire's statue at the Pantheon was melted down during Nazi occupation. D. 1778.
Voltaire (1694-1778), pseudónimo de François-
In 1694, Age of Enlightenment leader Francois-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was born in Paris. Jesuit-educated, he began writing clever verses by the age of 12. He launched a lifelong, successful playwriting career in 1718, interrupted by imprisonment in the Bastille. Upon a second imprisonment, in which Francois adopted the pen name Voltaire, he was released after agreeing to move to London. There he wrote Lettres philosophiques (1733), which galvanized French reform. The book also satirized the religious teachings of Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, including Pascal's famed "wager" on God. Voltaire wrote: "The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing." Voltaire's French publisher was sent to the Bastille and Voltaire had to escape from Paris again, as judges sentenced the book to be "torn and burned in the Palace." Voltaire spent a calm 16 years with his deistic mistress, Madame du Chatelet, in Lorraine. He met the 27 year old married mother when he was 39. In his memoirs, he wrote: "I found, in 1733, a young woman who thought as I did, and decided to spend several years in the country, cultivating her mind." He dedicated Traite de metaphysique to her. In it the Deist candidly rejected immortality and questioned belief in God. It was not published until the 1780s. Voltaire continued writing amusing but meaty philosophical plays and histories. After the earthquake that leveled Lisbon in 1755, in which 15,000 people perished and another 15,000 were wounded, Voltaire wrote Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster): "But how conceive a God supremely good/ Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,/ Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?"
Voltaire purchased a chateau in Geneva, where, among other works, he wrote Candide (1759). To avoid Calvinist persecution, Voltaire moved across the border to Ferney, where the wealthy writer lived for 18 years until his death. Voltaire began to openly challenge Christianity, calling it "the infamous thing." He wrote Frederick the Great: "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." Voltaire ended every letter to friends with "Ecrasez l'infame" (crush the infamy — the Christian religion). His pamphlet, The Sermon on the Fifty (1762) went after transubstantiation, miracles, biblical contradictions, the Jewish religion, and the Christian God. Voltaire wrote that a true god "surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough," or inspired "books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror." He also published excerpts of Testament of the Abbe Meslier, by an atheist priest, in Holland, which advanced the Enlightenment. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary was published in 1764 without his name. Although the first edition immediately sold out, Geneva officials, followed by Dutch and Parisian, had the books burned. It was published in 1769 as two large volumes. Voltaire campaigned fiercely against civil atrocities in the name of religion, writing pamphlets and commentaries about the barbaric execution of a Huguenot trader, who was first broken at the wheel, then burned at the stake, in 1762. Voltaire's campaign for justice and restitution ended with a posthumous retrial in 1765, during which 40 Parisian judges declared the defendant innocent. Voltaire urgently tried to save the life of Chevalier de la Barre, a 19 year old sentenced to death for blasphemy for failing to remove his hat during a religious procession. In 1766, Chevalier was beheaded after being tortured, then his body was burned, along with a copy of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire's statue at the Pantheon was melted down during Nazi occupation. D. 1778.
Voltaire (1694-1778), pseudónimo de François-
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September 23, 2018I read this in my teens. And from what I remember I liked it. But I haven’t given it a star rating. Maybe it’s time for a re-read.
November 29, 2019
It was interesting to read these after The Mysterious Stranger because all three books deal with the apparent capriciousness of fate and lack of justice, and "Zadig" even has a murderous angel like Twain's story.
But first, "Candide," which is undoubtedly what Voltaire is most known for and...it's all right. There's a lot of satire in it addressing 18th century schools of philosophy which is not without parallel today, though it is a good primer for those who believe that we live in the most horrible of worlds, and (especially American) slavery was a unique thing.
Slavery was ubiquitous prior to the industrial age, of course, and Candide experiences both sides of it. He is a naive fellow, trained by his philosopher Pangloss who asserts that "Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds". And as Candide is badly used and abused by practically all of the known world, he at first clings to, then challenges Pangloss' philosophy (which was a prominent school at the time).
Voltaire spits on the "happily ever after" notion though our characters do, after pointedly living their post-adventure lives in bitterness, find meaning in simple work and service to and with others.
"Zadig" is a little more interesting, at least to me, because Zadig (the main character) is wise as well as honest man, and both of those things bring him considerable misfortune. But he stays the course, being honest, gaining more wisdom and some cleverness in the ways of man, and this brings him to a happy end of which he had no guarantee but which he certainly would not have achieved without being true to himself and others.
The climactic moment occurs when Zadig encounters a wandering stranger who seems to be of tremendous wisdom and who proceeds to commit a series of heinous crimes. Zadig is appalled, much like the narrator of "Mysterious Stranger" and it turns out (just like Twain's story) that the character is an angel, possessed of knowledge of the future.
The funny thing to me about that is that it teases Pangloss because literally everything could be for the best in this best of all possible worlds. You just don't know.
This seems like a poor operating basis and it has absolutely no effect on the story. Zadig goes on as he did and fights for what he believes in, and if the meeting the angel changed his behavior in any way (and how could it?) we don't see it.
I liked "Zadig" better because his series of adventures were not all horrible and there were good people among the bad. Except for a brief visit to El Dorago, Candide's adventures revealed nothing but rottenness in man till the end.
But first, "Candide," which is undoubtedly what Voltaire is most known for and...it's all right. There's a lot of satire in it addressing 18th century schools of philosophy which is not without parallel today, though it is a good primer for those who believe that we live in the most horrible of worlds, and (especially American) slavery was a unique thing.
Slavery was ubiquitous prior to the industrial age, of course, and Candide experiences both sides of it. He is a naive fellow, trained by his philosopher Pangloss who asserts that "Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds". And as Candide is badly used and abused by practically all of the known world, he at first clings to, then challenges Pangloss' philosophy (which was a prominent school at the time).
Voltaire spits on the "happily ever after" notion though our characters do, after pointedly living their post-adventure lives in bitterness, find meaning in simple work and service to and with others.
"Zadig" is a little more interesting, at least to me, because Zadig (the main character) is wise as well as honest man, and both of those things bring him considerable misfortune. But he stays the course, being honest, gaining more wisdom and some cleverness in the ways of man, and this brings him to a happy end of which he had no guarantee but which he certainly would not have achieved without being true to himself and others.
The climactic moment occurs when Zadig encounters a wandering stranger who seems to be of tremendous wisdom and who proceeds to commit a series of heinous crimes. Zadig is appalled, much like the narrator of "Mysterious Stranger" and it turns out (just like Twain's story) that the character is an angel, possessed of knowledge of the future.
The funny thing to me about that is that it teases Pangloss because literally everything could be for the best in this best of all possible worlds. You just don't know.
This seems like a poor operating basis and it has absolutely no effect on the story. Zadig goes on as he did and fights for what he believes in, and if the meeting the angel changed his behavior in any way (and how could it?) we don't see it.
I liked "Zadig" better because his series of adventures were not all horrible and there were good people among the bad. Except for a brief visit to El Dorago, Candide's adventures revealed nothing but rottenness in man till the end.
April 14, 2023
Can I just start by saying this was the most bat shit crazy story I have ever come across. I had to Google it afterwards, and apparently, Voltaire was very into his satire. So this book satires the philosophy that everything is as it should be and everything basically happens for a reason. So, essentially, the characters have insanely horrific stories but remain generally upbeat.
I'm sure if I read more of Voltaire's non-satirical works, I could understand it a bit more. But I'm probably not going to. The end.
I'm sure if I read more of Voltaire's non-satirical works, I could understand it a bit more. But I'm probably not going to. The end.
October 28, 2018
Head humoorikad filosoofilised jutustused (muinasjutud).
Zadig oli minu arvates ülihea. Olemuselt ajakohane ka tänasel päeval.
Candide oli rohkem filosoofiline ja minu maitsele ehk liiga palju filosoofilisi arutelusid hea ja halva üle.
Zadig oli minu arvates ülihea. Olemuselt ajakohane ka tänasel päeval.
Candide oli rohkem filosoofiline ja minu maitsele ehk liiga palju filosoofilisi arutelusid hea ja halva üle.
October 11, 2022
An odd pair of novels centered around themes of good and evil and the nature of happiness. They're like moral plays where the fortunes of the characters change quickly page by page, and the consequences of their choices seem arbitrary compared to their motivations. It reminded me a lot of Jack Vance's Dying Earth novels in that way, inasmuch as the characters quickly go through many bizarre situations that are almost like fairy tales, and they go from the top of the world to absolute misery from one chapter to the next. It reminded me a little of Blood Meridian as well, because of the awful things that happen and general atmosphere of amorality. All the philosophical musings in the middle of terrible happenings also recalls to mind Marquis De Sade's books.
It's besides the point because these stories aren't really about sympathetic character development, but I found the 2 main characters of Candide and Zadig to be obnoxiously good and idiotic.
It's besides the point because these stories aren't really about sympathetic character development, but I found the 2 main characters of Candide and Zadig to be obnoxiously good and idiotic.
May 22, 2018
Two short stories from Voltaire.
Candide: (4/5) This is very reminiscent of The Alchemist, but less shallow. I really enjoyed it. This is somewhat of a satire of the optimistic coming-of-age stories at the time and Voltaire has enough bite and cleverness to keep this engaging. If movie executives wanted to be clever and subversive, they could do a modern retelling. The "lessons" were often reflective of deeper and more complex themes in human nature and actually is somewhat progressive in parts.
Zadig: (2/5) This is apparently a reflection of the political climate that Voltaire was experiencing at the time, and I suppose that's the downfall of the thing because I am not familiar with 18th century French politics (at least not quite that early in it). It's just a bit basic.
Candide: (4/5) This is very reminiscent of The Alchemist, but less shallow. I really enjoyed it. This is somewhat of a satire of the optimistic coming-of-age stories at the time and Voltaire has enough bite and cleverness to keep this engaging. If movie executives wanted to be clever and subversive, they could do a modern retelling. The "lessons" were often reflective of deeper and more complex themes in human nature and actually is somewhat progressive in parts.
Zadig: (2/5) This is apparently a reflection of the political climate that Voltaire was experiencing at the time, and I suppose that's the downfall of the thing because I am not familiar with 18th century French politics (at least not quite that early in it). It's just a bit basic.
July 4, 2023
Fransız Devrimini etkileyen Aydınlanma felsefesinin öncülerinden filozof yazar François Voltaire'in (1694-1778) zamanının din ve politik anlayış ve yönetimini eleştiren gizli hicivler barındıran;
- Erdemli, akılcı, iyi ve dürüst bir insan olmanın bedelini çoğunlukla hayal kırıklıkları ve mutsuzluk ile ödeyen genç bilge Sadık'ın Babil zamanlarındaki Suriye, Mısır, Arabistan ve Sri Lanka'ya uzanan hikayesini anlatan "Sadık (Zadig)" ve
- Kuzey Amerika'dan İngiltere, oradan da Fransa'ya yolu düşen Huron Kızılderilisi, 'içi dışı bir' genç olan Safdil, nam-ı diğer Herkül'ün Fransa'daki yozlaşmış ortamda aslını kaybetmeden kendisini bulma yolculuğunu anlatan "Safdil (L'ingénu)" adlı felsefi hikayelerini düşünerek keyifle okudum.
Ölmeden mutlaka okunması gerekenlerdendir Voltaire...
- Erdemli, akılcı, iyi ve dürüst bir insan olmanın bedelini çoğunlukla hayal kırıklıkları ve mutsuzluk ile ödeyen genç bilge Sadık'ın Babil zamanlarındaki Suriye, Mısır, Arabistan ve Sri Lanka'ya uzanan hikayesini anlatan "Sadık (Zadig)" ve
- Kuzey Amerika'dan İngiltere, oradan da Fransa'ya yolu düşen Huron Kızılderilisi, 'içi dışı bir' genç olan Safdil, nam-ı diğer Herkül'ün Fransa'daki yozlaşmış ortamda aslını kaybetmeden kendisini bulma yolculuğunu anlatan "Safdil (L'ingénu)" adlı felsefi hikayelerini düşünerek keyifle okudum.
Ölmeden mutlaka okunması gerekenlerdendir Voltaire...
September 16, 2008
The two stories contained in this paperback are very similar. Both are satires and romances of some sort, each focusing on a main character, one who gets through life on his wits, the other gets through life on his luck of stumbling on a land of riches. Both travel the world in hopes of being reacquainted with the women that they have fallen in love with.
Candide is a written to kind of laugh at the philosophy of "optimism", which, the editor notes, was very common philosophical lean during the time.
Candide is a written to kind of laugh at the philosophy of "optimism", which, the editor notes, was very common philosophical lean during the time.
July 28, 2018
Relata las peripecias de Cándido en su viaje por todo el mundo donde podrá experimentar lo distante de la realidad que estaban las enseñanzas de su profesor Pangloss. El profesor Pangloss está inspirado en Leibnitz ("todo sucede para bien en este, el mejor de los mundos posibles") y que, a pesar de sufrir todos los infortunios posibles, siempre saca una lectura positiva. Candido acabará aprendiendo que este mundo no es el mejor de los posibles pero que podemos vivir bien si "cultivamos nuestro jardín".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2022
Voltaire makes me dizzy by quickly and repetitively changing his character's mood from naive excessive optimism to total despair and self pity.
I wonder if such quick changes of mood are a characteristic of an age where contracting a deadly disease or getting randomly murdered wherent big surprises.
I wonder if such quick changes of mood are a characteristic of an age where contracting a deadly disease or getting randomly murdered wherent big surprises.
September 3, 2016
I read Candide about a month or so ago and loved it, so I decided to check out the story of Zadig. This story definitely has a similar feel to it as Candide, but it leans ever so slightly more toward the "feel good" side of the scale.
January 26, 2023
Candide
Have you ever been so maddened by a single sentence that you decided to write a book? Leibniz is famous for his claim that we live in "the best of all possible worlds", after the Lisbon earthquake which killed somewhere between 12,000 to 50,000 people Voltaire rejected this claim. In large part this book is a parody of this optimism. Candide the main character grows up in a sheltered privileged life where his tutor Pangloss teaches him that he lives in the best of all possible worlds. After a series of events our naïve hero is kicked out into the real world and is almost immediately kidnapped by Bulgarians and pressed into service. Leading to one of my favorite scenes where in Voltaire's dark comedic tone is captured.
A great story full of things that make you laugh in spite of how terrible they are.
Zadig
Written before Candide and is Voltaire's second most famous book, Zadig is a "good" man. But his goodness is also his constant tormentor as it is constantly getting him into trouble. Not much to say about this one other than a favorite scene where Zadig had stumbled on a man beating a woman. After a sword fight, Zadig was forced to dispatch the woman beater, he then addresses the woman...
It seems like Voltaire wanted the reader to understand that goodness is a thing tied down and in relationship with other things. In a way this could be seen as a rebuke to the idea of reasoning to an "absolute" good because that approach tends to negate context. In Candide the warning seemed to be to not cut yourself off from the world by reason lest you come up with an idea like "we live in the best of all possible worlds".
Have you ever been so maddened by a single sentence that you decided to write a book? Leibniz is famous for his claim that we live in "the best of all possible worlds", after the Lisbon earthquake which killed somewhere between 12,000 to 50,000 people Voltaire rejected this claim. In large part this book is a parody of this optimism. Candide the main character grows up in a sheltered privileged life where his tutor Pangloss teaches him that he lives in the best of all possible worlds. After a series of events our naïve hero is kicked out into the real world and is almost immediately kidnapped by Bulgarians and pressed into service. Leading to one of my favorite scenes where in Voltaire's dark comedic tone is captured.
There was never anything so gallant, so spruce, so brilliant, and so well disposed as the two armies. Trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, and cannon made music such as Hell itself had never heard. The cannons first of all laid flat about six thousand men on each side; the muskets swept away from this best of worlds nine or ten thousand ruffians who infested its surface. The bayonet was also a sufficient reason for the death of several thousands. The whole might amount to thirty thousand souls. Candide, who trembled like a philosopher, hid himself as well as he could during this heroic butchery.
A great story full of things that make you laugh in spite of how terrible they are.
Zadig
Written before Candide and is Voltaire's second most famous book, Zadig is a "good" man. But his goodness is also his constant tormentor as it is constantly getting him into trouble. Not much to say about this one other than a favorite scene where Zadig had stumbled on a man beating a woman. After a sword fight, Zadig was forced to dispatch the woman beater, he then addresses the woman...
Now, Madam, let me know your farther Will and Pleasure with me. You shall die, you Villain! You have murder’d my Love. Oh! I could tear your Heart out. Indeed, Madam, said Zadig, you had one of the most hot-headed, oddest Lovers I ever saw. He beat you most unmercifully, and would have taken away my Life because you call’d me in to your Assistance. Would to God he was but alive to beat me again, said she, blubbering and roaring; I deserv’d to be beat. I gave him too just occasion to be jealous of me. Would to God that he had beat me, and you had died in his Stead!
It seems like Voltaire wanted the reader to understand that goodness is a thing tied down and in relationship with other things. In a way this could be seen as a rebuke to the idea of reasoning to an "absolute" good because that approach tends to negate context. In Candide the warning seemed to be to not cut yourself off from the world by reason lest you come up with an idea like "we live in the best of all possible worlds".
Pangloss sometimes said to Candide:
"There is a concatenation of events in this best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of a magnificent castle for love of Miss Cunegonde: if you had not been put into the Inquisition: if you had not walked over America: if you had not stabbed the Baron: if you had not lost all your sheep from the fine country of El Dorado: you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio-nuts."
"All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden."
January 3, 2020
This book features two of Voltaire's most famous satires, Candide and Zadig. They tell two versions of what seem to be essentially the same story, with different characters and settings. Pairing them in one book, by the way, was a great choice.
In each story, we begin with a main male character who is unimpeachable in one way or another. In Zadig, our main character is wise beyond compare. In Candide, he is painfully honest and trusting, but a fool. Both face continued, painful, repeated misadventures for the first two thirds of the story or so, until they find a love they thought they had lost, realize something profound, marry their true love, and live a peaceable life.
The wisdom that Voltaire dispatches in both are painfully simple: "Sometimes, bad things are necessary for good things to happen." and "Sometimes, it's best to focus on yourself and grow your personal 'garden' if you want happiness."
I have read a lot of philosophy, and I understand the appeal of wrapping a philosophical maxim into a story. Sometimes it helps to deliver the import of the maxim. Voltaire failed in this. I think, if anything, his storytelling lessened the weight of the messages he wished to impart.
I found myself dragging through each story, waiting for a reward for page after page of the character's suffering, patiently sighing through poor attempts at humor, and suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at how very certain the author seemed to be that not only was he an incredible writer (nevermind the formulaic plots), but a profound and inspired philosopher with much more wisdom than anyone else, obviously.
All for "Sometimes, bad things are necessary for good things to happen." and "Sometimes, it's best to focus on yourself and grow your personal 'garden' if you want happiness."
I can't say I was pleased with spending time reading this.
In each story, we begin with a main male character who is unimpeachable in one way or another. In Zadig, our main character is wise beyond compare. In Candide, he is painfully honest and trusting, but a fool. Both face continued, painful, repeated misadventures for the first two thirds of the story or so, until they find a love they thought they had lost, realize something profound, marry their true love, and live a peaceable life.
The wisdom that Voltaire dispatches in both are painfully simple: "Sometimes, bad things are necessary for good things to happen." and "Sometimes, it's best to focus on yourself and grow your personal 'garden' if you want happiness."
I have read a lot of philosophy, and I understand the appeal of wrapping a philosophical maxim into a story. Sometimes it helps to deliver the import of the maxim. Voltaire failed in this. I think, if anything, his storytelling lessened the weight of the messages he wished to impart.
I found myself dragging through each story, waiting for a reward for page after page of the character's suffering, patiently sighing through poor attempts at humor, and suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at how very certain the author seemed to be that not only was he an incredible writer (nevermind the formulaic plots), but a profound and inspired philosopher with much more wisdom than anyone else, obviously.
All for "Sometimes, bad things are necessary for good things to happen." and "Sometimes, it's best to focus on yourself and grow your personal 'garden' if you want happiness."
I can't say I was pleased with spending time reading this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2019
Never having read any Voltaire, I have to say that I was hoping for more from these two stories. I expected philosophical insight coupled with wit, but instead I found thinly-veiled parables which dragged interminably on through frustrating repetition and good events inevitably followed by their undoing. Candide and Zadig were similar tales which reached opposite conclusions, I suppose due to the different merits of each protagonist. The so-called morals of each story were wholly simplistic, ridiculous and not worthy of an Enlightenment writer.
April 25, 2021
Candide, Sadık ve Safdil...Voltaire'nin kendine has optimistik karşıtı anlatımlarının en iyi üç örneği. Hepsinin ortak noktası, doğruluktan şaşmayan erdemli ve saf üç karakterin başından geçen kötü olaylar. Tek farkları ise Safdil'in diğerlerinin aksine oldukça üzücü bitmesi.
Ayrıca Safdil bölümünde yazarın Melekler ve Tanrıtanımazlar kitabında eleştirdiği Hristiyanlık adet ve doktrinlerini tekrar ele alıyor, özellikle Papa ve sözde dini yaptırımlar hakkında güzel eleştirilerde bulunuyor.
Okuması keyifli, basit hikayelerin altında yatan güzel göndermeler ve felsefi tartışmalarla ile daha da keyifli hale gelen bir kitap kısacası.
Ayrıca Safdil bölümünde yazarın Melekler ve Tanrıtanımazlar kitabında eleştirdiği Hristiyanlık adet ve doktrinlerini tekrar ele alıyor, özellikle Papa ve sözde dini yaptırımlar hakkında güzel eleştirilerde bulunuyor.
Okuması keyifli, basit hikayelerin altında yatan güzel göndermeler ve felsefi tartışmalarla ile daha da keyifli hale gelen bir kitap kısacası.
June 25, 2021
Sama radnja i nije za raspravu, iako kratkoćom i ponekad poukom neodoljivo podsjeća na Đulistan, djelo čijim autora posvetnicom Volter i počinje “Zadiga”.
U njoj se autor kroz mnoštvo anagrama i uključivanja likova iz različitih vremena ruga neistomišljenicima i komentariše događaje svog doba. “Kandid” je s druge strane otvoreno izrugivanje Lajbnicovoj filozofiji optimizma, kroz sličan način i metode koje Volter koristi i u “Zadigu”.
U njoj se autor kroz mnoštvo anagrama i uključivanja likova iz različitih vremena ruga neistomišljenicima i komentariše događaje svog doba. “Kandid” je s druge strane otvoreno izrugivanje Lajbnicovoj filozofiji optimizma, kroz sličan način i metode koje Volter koristi i u “Zadigu”.
February 23, 2022
Wow, Candide is such a head-over-heels hilarious tale that seems as if it ought to be required reading for anyone into 'positive thinking'!
Is this truly the best of all possible worlds -- and can one maintain this faith no matter what happens?
The end is a nice riposte.
Zadig is an endearing tale where one man's only curse is being too virtuous.
Is this truly the best of all possible worlds -- and can one maintain this faith no matter what happens?
The end is a nice riposte.
Zadig is an endearing tale where one man's only curse is being too virtuous.
January 8, 2022
لاحظت في زاديق كمية من القصص العربية وبعض احداث سيدنا موسى عليه السلام مع الحضر الا أنه بدل موسى كان زاديق وبدل الخضر كان الرجل مَلَك جميلة جدا قصص فولتير احتاج أن أقرأها مستقبلا ككتاب ورقي
زاديق كانت احب اليّ من كانديد
زاديق كانت احب اليّ من كانديد
February 21, 2017
Some fairly amusing short novellas.
October 2, 2017
Candide was a bit disappointing; however, Zadig was a good read.
December 12, 2018
Curiously interesting.
July 12, 2019
La liste des mésaventures de Zadig suivie de la liste des mésaventures de Candide... Voltaire ne manque pas de souligner toute la noirceur de la société. Déprimant...
October 30, 2021
As a review of Enlightenment literature Candide was good. Zadig was alright. Not sure if there was a point.
December 1, 2022
Very funny. Voltaire has a lot of personality, thus his characters have a lot of vim.
July 20, 2024
Just getting thru this. I kind of meed a lit major to explain all nuances and satire
November 20, 2023
Zadig by Voltaire
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Picked this up from my dads little library, mainly to get a little practice at my Italian reading (with the original being in French 🇫🇷)
It’s 1747 philosophical fiction novella, just to mix up my typical genres a bit.
Each chapter is about how Zadig carried out mostly good deeds and at the end of each deed seemed to end with some sort of life lesson - parables I suppose. Zadig is essentially born to suffer.
Short and sweet little read
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Picked this up from my dads little library, mainly to get a little practice at my Italian reading (with the original being in French 🇫🇷)
It’s 1747 philosophical fiction novella, just to mix up my typical genres a bit.
Each chapter is about how Zadig carried out mostly good deeds and at the end of each deed seemed to end with some sort of life lesson - parables I suppose. Zadig is essentially born to suffer.
Short and sweet little read
July 2, 2015
Candide was a reread - I had fun rediscovering the many quips & satiric witticisms, & can appreciate the ridiculousness of extreme Optimism even more now than when I was a teenager. I really enjoyed the parables in Zadig, & vastly preferred the characters, but it didn't have the sharp bite of Candide, & wasn't fully satisfied with the concluding philosophy. Great read overall.
December 6, 2011
A section in the middle of Candide gets a bit boring, but Voltaire quickly recovers. Overall, hilarious and brilliant. If you want evidence that humanity has always been idiotic, Voltaire provides plenty. (i only read candide.)
July 29, 2015
Yikes! Both of thee stories are about virtuous optimists who endure the bleakest of life's vicissitudes at every turn, and so it seems do most all the characters they encounter. Challenging the ideas that men live by, they succeed as philosophical satires.
Read
July 27, 2009Young man travels epically in 1700s (?), tries to ive life according to philosophy, discover true philosophy, ltimatly fails and is miserabe. Highly humerous, much biting sarcasm and wit.
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