Voltaire's Candide is the story of a naive young man de-voted to the philosophy that we live in the "best of allpossible worlds." Cast out from the supposed "terrestrial heaven" of the Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh's court in dreary Westphalia, Candide wanders the globe encountering greed, violence, betrayal, bad weather, earthquakes, and all manner of disappointment. In the process, he innocently reveals the hypocrisy and cruelty behind the institutions and philosophies of Voltaire's day in a series of hilarious scenes whose rapid-fire verbal wit and fantastical images have become a permanent part of Western culture.

  Voltaire"s Candide is the story of a naive young man de-voted to the philosophy that we live in the "best of allpossible worlds." Cast out from the supposed "terrestrial heaven" of the Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh"s court in dreary Westphalia, Candide wanders the globe encountering greed, violence, betrayal, bad weather, earthquakes, and all manner of disappointment. In the process, he innocently reveals the hypocrisy and cruelty behind the institutions and philosophies of Voltaire"s day in a series of hilarious scenes whose rapid-fire verbal wit and fantastical images have become a permanent part of Western culture.

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY OF VOLTAIRE"S

 LIFE AND WORK

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF Candide

      CANDIDE

I. HOW CANDIDE WAS BROUGHT UP IN A

  MAGNIFICENT CASTLE AND HOW HE WAS

  EXPELLED THENCE

II. WHAT BECAME OF CANDIDE AMONG THE

  BULGARIANS

III. How CANDIDE MADE HIS ESCAPE FROM

 THE BULGARIANS, AND WHAT

 AFTERWARDS BECAME OF HIM

IV. How CANDIDE FOUND HIS OLD

  MASTER PANGLOSS, AND WHAT

  HAPPENED TO THEM

V. TEMPEST, SHIPWRECK, EARTHQUAKE, AND

   WHAT BECAME OF DOCTOR PANGLOSS,

   CANDIDE, AND JAMES THE ANABAPTIST

VI. How THE PORTUGUESE MADE A BEAUTIFUL

   AUTRO-DA-FE, TO PREVENT ANY FURTHER

   EARTHQUAKES; AND HOW CANDIDE WAS

   PUBLICLY WHIPPED

VII. How THE OLD WOMAN TOOK CARE OF

   CANDIDE, AND HOW HE FOUND THE

   OBJECT HE LOVED

VIII. THE HISTORY OF CUNEGONDE

IX. WHAT BECAME OF CUNEGONDE,

   CANDIDE, THE GRAND INQUISITOR,

   AND THE JEW

X. IN WHAT DISTRESS CANDIDE,

   CUNEGONDE, AND THE OLD WOMAN

   ARRIVED AT CADIZ; AND OF THEIR

   EMBARKATION

XI. HISTORY OF THE OLD WOMAN

XII. THE ADVENTURES OF THE OLD WOMAN

   CONTINUED

XIII. How CANDIDE WAS FORCED AWAY FROM

   FAIR CUNEGONDE AND THE OLD

 WOMAN

XIV. How CANDIDE AND CACAMBO WERE

   RECEIVED BY THE JESUITS OF PARAGUAY

XV. How CANDIDE KILLED THE BROTHER

   OF HIS DEAR CUNEGONDE

XVI. ADVENTURES OF THE Two TRAVELLERS,

   WITH Two GIRLS, Two MONKEYS, AND THE

   SAVAGES CALLED OREILLONS

XVII. ARRIVAL OF CANDIDE AND HIS VALET AT

  EL DORADO, AND WHAT THEY

  SAW THERE

XVIII. WHAT THEY SAW IN THE COUNTRY OF

   EL DORADO

XIX. WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM AT SURINAM

  AND HOW CANDIDE GOT ACQUAINTED

  WITH MARTIN

XX. WHAT HAPPENED AT SEA TO CANDIDE

      AND MARTIN

XXI. CANDIDE AND .MARTIN, REASONING,

      DRAW NEAR THE COAST OF FRANCE

XXII. WHAT HAPPENED IN FRANCE TO

      CANDIDE AND MARTIN

XXIII. CANDIDE AND MARTIN TOUCHED UPON

      THE COAST OF ENGLAND, AND WHAT

      THEY SAW THERE

XXIV. OF PAQUETTE AND FRIAR GIROFLEE

XXV. THE VISIT TO LORD POCOCURANTE, A

      NOBLE VENETIAN

XXVL. OF A SUPPER WHICH CANDIDE AND

      MARTIN TOOK WITH SIX STRANGERS,

      AND WHO THEY WERE

XXVII. CANDIDE"S VOYAGE TO

      CONSTANTINOPLE

XXVIII. WHAT HAPPENED TO CANDIDE,

      CUNEGONDE, PANGLOSS, MARTIN,

      ETC.

XXIX. How CANDIDE FOUND CUNEGONDE AND

     THE OLD WOMAN AGAIN

XXX. THE CONCLUSION

NOTES

INTERPRETIVE NOTES

CRITICAL EXCERPTS

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE

INTERESTED READER