Candide or Optimism : A Fresh Translation, Backgrounds, Criticism

by Voltaire; Adams, Robert M.

• ISBN13: 9780393960587
• ISBN10: 0393960587
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-03-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

The accompanying apparatus has been revised in accordance with recent biographical and critical materials. The Backgrounds and Criticism sections provide important essays that shed light on major critical issues relevant to Candide and to the intellectual climate of the period. In addition to the reports of five English visitors to Ferney, essays by Haydn Mason, Erich Auerbach, Ernst Cassirer, and Robert M. Adams are included. The final section of the edition, "The Climate of Controversy," summarizes the debate surrounding Voltaire's works and includes essays by Peter Gay, Raymond Naves, Gustave Lanson, and John Morley. Also included are a series of quotations about Voltaire by such prominent figures as Gustave Flaubert, Frederick the Great, and Stendhal, as well as the text of "Pangloss's Song," a ballad from the 1956 Candide -based operetta by Richard Wilbur.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	vii
The Text of Candide, or Optimism	ix
``Candide'' and Mademoiselle ``Cunegonde'': A Note on Their Names	xi
Candide	1	(76)
Backgrounds	77	(50)
Summary: The Intellectual Backgrounds	79	(5)
Robert M. Adams
Well, Everything Is Well	84	(6)
Voltaire at Les Delices and at Ferney	90	(9)
Gustave Lanson
[Gestation: Candide Assembling Itself]	99	(13)
Haydn Mason
English Visitors to Ferney: A Sampling	112	(15)
August 1763	113	(1)
Edward Gibbon
December 1764	114	(1)
James Boswell
August 1771	115	(1)
Rev. Norton Nicholls
July 1770	116	(2)
Charles Burney
(Eighth Duke of Hamilton), July 1772	118	(9)
John Moore
Douglas Hamilton
Criticism	127	(52)
The Conte Defined	129	(1)
Robert M. Adams
A Checklist of the Contes of Voltaire, and Related Writings	129	(3)
[Tone, Pace, Insinuation]	132	(12)
Erich Auerbach
[Voltaire and Candide]	144	(9)
I. O. Wade
The Quality of Candide	153	(14)
J. G. Weightman
[Voltaire's Escape from Pascal]	167	(6)
Ernst Cassirer
Getting the Point	173	(6)
Robert M. Adams
The Climate of Controversy	179	(30)
Voltaire's Faith	181	(4)
Voltaire: Letter on the Subject of Candide	181	(2)
[What Did Voltaire Mean by l'Infame?]	183	(1)
Peter Gay
Andre Delattre	184	(1)
Voltaire's Greatness	185	(4)
Joseph de Maistre	186	(1)
Victor Hugo	187	(1)
Edmond and Jules Goncourt	188	(1)
Voltaire's Coherence	189	(4)
Emile Faguet	189	(1)
Daniel Mornet	190	(1)
Raymond Naves	191	(2)
Voltaire's Humanity	193	(3)
Madame de Stael	193	(2)
Gustave Lanson	195	(1)
Voltaire's Style	196	(7)
Hippolyte Taine	196	(2)
John Morley	198	(5)
Short Takes	203	(4)
Anatole France	203	(1)
Gustave Flaubert	203	(1)
George Saintsbury	203	(1)
Andre Bellessort	203	(1)
Emile Faguet	204	(1)
Frederick the Great	204	(1)
S. G. Tallentyre	204	(1)
Peter Gay	204	(1)
Stendhal	204	(1)
[Pangloss's Song]	205	(1)
Richard Wilbur
Thomas Jefferson	206	(1)
Jacques Van Den Heuvel	206	(1)
Andre Delattre	207	(1)
Hugo Friedrich	207	(1)
Voltaire's Apotheosis	207	(2)
Paul Valery	207	(2)
For Further Reading	209