{"title":"Voltaire","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"candide-hardcover","title":"Candide - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eCandide, Voltaire's timeless satirical masterpiece, is a whirlwind adventure through the trials and tribulations of its eponymous hero, as he embarks on a tumultuous journey across continents and through a myriad of misfortunes. With biting wit and razor-sharp insight, Voltaire challenges the prevailing notions of his time, including blind optimism, religious dogma, and the nature of human suffering. As Candide navigates a world of corruption, deception, and disaster, he encounters a colorful cast of characters, each embodying the extremes of human folly and vice. Through their exploits, Voltaire deftly exposes the hypocrisy and absurdity of the human condition, urging readers to question the world around them and the beliefs they hold dear. Candide is a literary triumph that blends scathing social satire, philosophical inquiry, and high adventure to create a thought-provoking and wildly entertaining reading experience. Dive into the extraordinary world of Voltaire's Candide, and join the unforgettable hero on his quest for truth, love, and enlightenment in the face of unimaginable adversity.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101137801439,"sku":"9789355275066","price":43.18,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ZQFibIJ4qi9789355275066.webp?v=1781068333"},{"product_id":"candide-hardcover-1","title":"Candide - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eYoung Candide is ejected from his idyllic life in a protected castle and finds himself encountering wild adventures and harsh trials that put to the test his teacher's claim that we live in the best of all possible worlds.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHonest and simple to a fault, Candide finds that a bit of romance leads only to exile and sudden immersion in a larger and more frightening world. Armed with the optimistic teachings of his mentor Pangloss, he is soon astounded to be arrested, beaten and forced into military service. The author doesn't spare his hero, hurling him into a shipwreck, an earthquake, a tidal wave and a city-wide wildfire in short order. Pursuing his true love and reunited with Pangloss, who interprets each new setback, no matter how horrific, as another sign that everything happens for the best, Candide refuses to abandon hope but begins to question his teacher's bottomless optimism. An outrageous picaresque quest full of barbed observations about human behavior and belief, politics and institutions, \u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e was condemned for the fiercely irreverent stance it delicately conceals beneath its hero's guileless nature and chain of extravagant adventures. Triumphing over censorship, the book has had profound influence on philosophy and politics since its first appearance in 1759, but remains a classic that can be read for pure pleasure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of \u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e is both modern and readable.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e by \u003cb\u003eVoltaire\u003c\/b\u003e follows its hero as he emerges from a sheltered life, where he understood everything happens for the best, into the world, where things are rarely so pleasant. A witty entertainment saturated with satirical stabs at philosophy, religion, government and humanity in general, \u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e is a transformative classic and the author's finest work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101547860191,"sku":"9781513220642","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/U0xCZ1g4dFFlVy9DNDV2ZWZ4MHVsUT09.webp?v=1781071700"},{"product_id":"candide-paperback","title":"Candide - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eCandide is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: or, Optimism (1947). It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply \"optimism\") by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, \"we must cultivate our garden\", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, \"all is for the best\" in the \"best of all possible worlds\".Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clich s, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of na vet . However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is arguably taught more than any other work of French literature. Martin Seymour-Smith has listed Candide as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101570404575,"sku":"9781503253797","price":8.44,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/iicJM9Wj7m9781503253797.webp?v=1781071742"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/voltaire.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}