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branomander 's review for:
Candide
by Voltaire
In the best of all possible worlds, all is for the best. This belief, based on Leibniz’s philosophy, is torn down in what is essentially a narrative argument that showcases how brutal, careless, and arbitrary the world can truly be. Perhaps fate does exist in this world and Candide’s, the amount of coincidences surely hint at this, yet it is the point of the book that fate does not necessarily guarantee the best outcome. Candide and his fellows encounter war, war crimes, murder, torture, injustice, and other horrific things. He begins the novel believing Pangloss, a Leibniz stand-in, who teaches him this optimistic view. After repeated awful events, and his time with a more pessimistic philosopher, Martin, Candide abandons this philosophy.
Much of the book is negative, it is an attack and doesn’t erect or support any new system of belief, save possibly for the ending. Candide and most of his friends survive, and end up living an idle, boring life where they occasionally debate philosophy. Everyone becomes dissatisfied. It is even questioned whether tragedy or boredom is preferable. They eventually settle on a plan to work without much theorizing, and they exercise their talents and become satisfied. The final page has Pangloss restating his optimism about fate, followed by this: “‘well said,’ replied Candide, ‘but we must cultivate our garden.’”
It’s a powerful view. Candide learns to accept a level of determinism in the world, accepts fate, but refuses to become a victim of it. Rather than let himself drift in the currents of cause and effect since “all is for the best”, he chooses to exercise his willpower and improve the world and his situation. This exact same type of thinking still pervades everyday speech. People say that “everything will work out in the end”, or “trust in the process” or “it’s for the best” or “its all according to x’s plan”, whatever. These thoughts have the same effect as Pangloss’s philosophy, but Voltaire rejects this. We have to embrace our agency and work at our situations rather than blindly trusting the world to unfold positively.
The book, while absurdly brutal and dark in places, is also quite humorous. I’m bad about thinking of historical peoples as somehow different than we currently are, and sure, we have different technology and values, but humor has seemed to stay somewhat constant. It just reminded me of a shared humanity that it’s easy for me to forget about.
The satirical elements are brilliantly utilized by Voltaire to attack nearly everything. Absurd social rituals and rules, incoherent philosophies, romantic and unconditional love, hierarchical structures, etc. I walked away from the book with a refreshing view that everything I encounter is strange and contingent, changeable.
Definitely an excellent read. The only warning I would have is the violence. It’s very extreme, particularly against the women in the novel, but it has a point.
Much of the book is negative, it is an attack and doesn’t erect or support any new system of belief, save possibly for the ending. Candide and most of his friends survive, and end up living an idle, boring life where they occasionally debate philosophy. Everyone becomes dissatisfied. It is even questioned whether tragedy or boredom is preferable. They eventually settle on a plan to work without much theorizing, and they exercise their talents and become satisfied. The final page has Pangloss restating his optimism about fate, followed by this: “‘well said,’ replied Candide, ‘but we must cultivate our garden.’”
It’s a powerful view. Candide learns to accept a level of determinism in the world, accepts fate, but refuses to become a victim of it. Rather than let himself drift in the currents of cause and effect since “all is for the best”, he chooses to exercise his willpower and improve the world and his situation. This exact same type of thinking still pervades everyday speech. People say that “everything will work out in the end”, or “trust in the process” or “it’s for the best” or “its all according to x’s plan”, whatever. These thoughts have the same effect as Pangloss’s philosophy, but Voltaire rejects this. We have to embrace our agency and work at our situations rather than blindly trusting the world to unfold positively.
The book, while absurdly brutal and dark in places, is also quite humorous. I’m bad about thinking of historical peoples as somehow different than we currently are, and sure, we have different technology and values, but humor has seemed to stay somewhat constant. It just reminded me of a shared humanity that it’s easy for me to forget about.
The satirical elements are brilliantly utilized by Voltaire to attack nearly everything. Absurd social rituals and rules, incoherent philosophies, romantic and unconditional love, hierarchical structures, etc. I walked away from the book with a refreshing view that everything I encounter is strange and contingent, changeable.
Definitely an excellent read. The only warning I would have is the violence. It’s very extreme, particularly against the women in the novel, but it has a point.