Candide

Satirical story of a well-known French writer of the Enlightenment “Candide” was created in the XVIII century. One of the most popular works of Voltaire received an unexpected fate. For a long time, it was banned, because of obscenities. The starting point for the creation of “Candide” was a real historical event - the Lisbon earthquake, when a boomtown was destroyed, and many people died on November 1, 1755. This earthquake turned the capital of the country into ruins, and killed nearly 80,000 lives in just six minutes. This event occupies a central place in the story, in which life paths of Candide and philosopher Pangloss are in conflict, a love story line between Candide and Kunigunda is formed, and the adventure of the hero begins. Exactly the Lisbon earthquake was the target of this satirical novel. This event renewed the debates over the position of the German philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz. He admitted that everything was blessing on the Earth, and all people lived in the best world. Earlier, Voltaire shared the optimism of Leibniz. However, in “Candide”, optimistic outlook on life became a sign of inexperience and social illiteracy. From such vices the author, as expected, disowned decrying them as a satire.

According to the researchers of Voltaire, the impetus for writing “Candide” was not only the earthquake, but also a reasonable suspicion of Voltaire to the principles of this kind of philosophical system. Disappointed with the effectiveness of rational-optimistic mood of the Enlightenment, as well as calling into question the meaning and position of the Seven Years’ War, Voltaire published “Candide” - a sharp satirical novel, designed to cool the hot heads of “optimists”, who saw grace in everything.

By genre, it is a philosophical novel with a touch of cynicism, which is constructed as a biography of the main character undergoing all sorts of calamities, hardships, and poverty in his travels around the world. It should be said that the genre of philosophical novel does not imply the evolution of the characters. Heroes of the story are deprived of the psychological component, which makes the reader empathize them. Thus, the reader can only follow the route chosen by the author, absently watching the philosophical controversy of the characters. However, as the heroes were deliberately deprived of the inner peace, and lost the ability to produce ideas in the development process, the author imperceptibly throws up the new meanings with the help of secondary actors.

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There are a few main and many secondary characters in the novel. The main heroes reflect human sentiment of the time. The secondary characters are “thought forms” and the opinion of the author. Voltaire deliberately chooses a genre that shows the absurdity of the world and, in particular, human ideas that are unable to deal with reality in an adequate manner. The author demonstrates this in a sharp and laconic way. In this case, the author anticipates the literature of the twentieth century. Candide name in French means “sincere”. He is a model of a natural man of Rousseau. In the story, he owns the role of a simpleton. Candide is the witness of all the vices of society. The main hero trusts people, especially his mentors, from whom he learns that there is no effect without a cause and everything is blessing on the Earth. For the author, the main character plunging into the abyss of woes and absurdities is the mechanism, by which a writer satirically mocks the position of Leibniz showing failure of such judgments. Ironic, with a touch of mockery, straightforward, easy, and energetic style of Voltaire rightly elevates this work to the best creations of the author.