Candide

1. Candide Background on Voltaire Parody Satire

2. Early Life • Born Francois-Marie Arouet in 1694 • Born in Paris • Wealthy bourgeois family • Extremely intelligent • Studied under the Jesuits • Religious order of Catholic Church • Gifted in language

3. Rebellion • Father wanted him to be a lawyer • Preferred writing • Refused legal studies/career in 1718 • Changed his name to finalize decision

4. Name Change • Selected the name Voltaire • Anagram of “Arouet l(e) j(eune)”, or Arouet the young • 18th c - letters i and j & u and v interchangeable • Volter = verb meaning “to turn abruptly” • Like volte-face (Unit 4 vocab word!!)

5. Early Writing • Focused on poetry and drama • Acted in many of his own plays • Saw himself mainly as a poet

6. Time in London • 1726 - Exiled to London after argument with French nobleman • Learned English and spent time with cultural and political figures • Read Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels • “Voltaire came to England a poet and left it a philosopher.” • Developed into a prose writer • Impressed with British government and freedoms

7. Back in France • Introduced ideas of Newton and Locke to France • Ostracized for publishing a work declaring British government & freedoms superior to French ones • Lived with mistress outside of Paris from 1734 - 1749 • wrote about science, kings, Lisbon earthquake

8. Reconciliation with French Court • Served as royal historiographer in 1745 • Historiographer - one who studies and engages in historical writing • Elected to Academie Francaise in 1746

9. Moving Around • Wandered Europe for several years after death of mistress • 1755 - settled in Geneva • Age 61 • Owned property called “Les Delices” • First-time homeowner • Moved after frustrated that government wasn’t ideal

10. In Between • Lived between Paris and Geneva • Ferney • On French soil • Built church for villagers • Received well

11. Deism and Religious/Political Writing • Deism • Belief that a supreme God exists and made the universe • God does not interfere in everyday events • Crusader for tolerance and justice • Used writing to try to clear people accused of murder due to religious beliefs • Critiqued Catholic Church in writing

12. Return to Paris • Persuaded to see one of his plays • Received well • Died in Paris 2 months later • Buried in Pantheon • Great honor reserved for political and literary leaders

13. Candide

14. Candide • Candide, or Optimism • Published in 1759 and then expanded • A moral tale • Parody of Liebniz’s Theodicee (1710) • Liebniz = German philosopher • World is good because made by God • Evil happens because people are inadequate

15. Candide • Parody • Imitation of a writer’s or genre’s style with use of exaggeration for comic effect • Satire • Use of humor, exaggeration, irony to diminish, expose, and criticize people’s views • Uses attitudes of amusement and contempt

16. Candide • Beliefs expressed in Candide • Being useful to society • Being happy with what one has • Corrupt nature of politics and religion

17. Candide • Because reason and faith must be entirely reconciled, any tenet of faith which could not be defended by reason must be rejected. Leibniz then approached one of the central criticisms of Christian theism:[20] if God is all good, all wise and all powerful, how did evil come into the world? The answer (according to Leibniz) is that, while God is indeed unlimited in wisdom and power, his human creations, as creations, are limited both in their wisdom and in their will (power to act). This predisposes humans to false beliefs, wrong decisions and ineffective actions in the exercise of their free will. God does not arbitrarily inflict pain and suffering on humans; rather he permits both moral evil (sin) and physical evil (pain and suffering) as the necessary consequences of metaphysical evil (imperfection), as a means by which humans can identify and correct their erroneous decisions, and as a contrast to true good.