Candide at 250: A NYPL Digital Exhibition
"Have men always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?"
"Oh, Heavens! To what excess does religious zeal carry the ladies."
"I was ravishing, was exquisite, grace itself, and I was a virgin! I did not remain so long."
"Mankind must have corrupted nature a little, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves."
"Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself."
Take an illustrated journey with Candide, Dr. Pangloss, Cunegonde, and others, conducted by artist Rockwell Kent at the New York Public Library's exhibit online. what follows is the introduction to the exhibit:
"Candide is a work of fiction, but it is not a novel. Its zany and often ridiculous two-dimensional characters, and its improbable, rapid plot twists, cannot be taken seriously. These are elements of satire in Voltaire’s philosophical tale, orconte philosophique (a literary recasting of debate), in which the author set out to persuade his readers that one of the central and dominant ideas of the 18th century was both false and dangerous. Known as philosophical optimism, this is the idea that everything that happens in life is for the best, even if we cannot understand why it is so."
"On his travels in search of Cunegonde, his lost love, Voltaire’s Candide encounters a world marked by political and religious upheaval, scientific discovery, and colonial expansion. His tutor, Dr. Pangloss, insists that 'all is for the best,' but episodes of tragedy and devastation continually challenge this optimism."
"On its first publication, in 1759, Candide was a sensation — banned, pirated, and talked about all over Europe. Seventeen editions appeared in the first year alone. Although it was disparaged in the 19th century by the leading writers of French Romanticism, Candide has become a staple in the canon of Western literature. It has been reprinted continuously for more than two centuries in all the major languages of the world and illustrated by artists of note. Candide as a cultural treasure has also been continuously transformed: imitated, excerpted, expanded, set to music, staged, and filmed. This adaptability was Candide’s specialty from the start: refashioning controversies has made it an engine for 250 years of debate. "
Candide Digital Edition, a full electronic edition of the book in which commissioned readers and the general public can post digital marginalia alongside Voltaire’s text.
"Enjoy this in-depth discussion of a staple in the canon of Western literature with Dr. Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library. Dr. LeClerc talks about his first encounter with Candide, the 1928 Random House edition of the classic (the first book published under the firm's imprint), and Voltaire's relevance today."