Banned Book: Candide

Candide is a French satire written by Voltaire (1694–1778) in 1759. In this short novella, Candide is a young man who lives a pampered and sheltered life in a comfortable setting in Westphalia (Germany). His mentor, Pangloss, is tutoring him on Leibnizian optimism -- stating that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." But Candide's idyllic life come to an end when he is chased from his settings and begins a wandering life full of adventures that make him question everything that he has been taught up to that time, including conventional religion, morals, and politics. The once-naive Candide is eventually disillusioned from his earlier optimistic view on life and concludes, after a series of hardships and injustices, that we, as humans, must "cultivate our own garden." This book was banned in the 18th century by the Catholic Church because of its alleged criticism of religion. Candide poses many innocent questions about religion and politics, and as a parody has influenced many modern American writers including Joseph Heller, John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, and Kurt Vonnegut. Voltaire's Candide is one of the most often taught French novels in English translation.

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You can read the text of Candide online at Project Gutenberg or download it for the reader of your choice