Candide (Third Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)

Seven Critical Essays -- Five Of Them New To This Edition-- Representing A Wide Range Of Approaches To Candide, Intended To Deepen The Reader's Response To The Work.--back Cover. Introduction -- Preface To The Second Edtion -- The Text Of Candide, Or Optimism -- Appendix: Letter On The Subject Of Candide / Voltaire -- Backgrounds -- Voltaire's Grin / Richard Holmes -- Voltaire's Garden : The Philosopher As A Campaigner For Human Rights / Adam Gopnik -- The Question Of Optimism / W.h. Barber -- Candide And The Philosophy Of The Garden / Dennis Fletcher -- Gestation: Candide Assembling Itself / Haydn Mason -- The Voltairean Genre Of The Conte Philosophique: Does It Exsits? / Nicholas Cronk -- Criticism -- The Quality Of Candide / J. G. Weightman -- Does Candide Learn? Genre, Discourse, And Satire In Candide / Robin Howells -- Romance Conventions In Voltaire's Candide / James J. Lynch -- Holding The Mirror Up To Fiction: Generic Parody In Candide / Philip Stewart -- Voltaire's Style: Tone, Pace, Insinuation / Erich Auerbach -- On Candid'e Philosophical Style / Jean Starobinski -- The Status Of Fiction In Voltaire's Contes / Jack Undank. Voltaire ; Edited By Nicholas Cronk. Includes Bibliographical References. Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man, whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world. And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism. Candide has been delighting readers since 1759 with its satiric wit, provocations and warnings.