Candide, Voltaire
Candide, Voltaire
List: $14.95 | Sale: $10.47
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Candide

Author: Voltaire

Narrator: Jack Davenport

Unabridged: 3 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2010

Synopsis

Candide, published simultaneously in five European capitals in 1759, became an instant bestseller and is now regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment.This is a witty allegory of a young man whose optimism gives way to disillusionment after a series of terrible misfortunes.Voltaire’s preoccupations with evil and with various kinds of human folly and intolerance found a perfect vehicle in this philosophical tale. A master storyteller, he combined often wildly entertaining action with profoundly serious sense, parodying the traditional chivalric and oriental tales with which his public was more familiar.

About Voltaire

Voltaire (1694–1778), born François-Marie Arouet, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties. He produced works in almost every literary form, including poetry, novels, essays, plays, historical and scientific works, and over two thousand books and pamphlets.

About Jack Davenport

Jack Davenport is an English actor best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling, Smash, and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. In addition to film and theater, he has lent his voice to many audiobooks and voice-overs for commercials. Some of his audiobook credits include A Clockwork Orange, Black Dogs, Candide, among others, and his narrations have won two AudioFile Earphones Awards.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Manny on May 19, 2009

- Bonjour, M. Candide! Bienvenue au site Goodreads! Qu'en pensez-vous? - It's OK, we can speak English. Pour encourager les autres, as one might say. - Eh... super! I mean, good! So, what do you make of twenty-first century Britain? - Vraiment sympathique! I am reading of your little scandale with the......more

Goodreads review by Lisa of Troy on August 20, 2024

Surprisingly Funny Candide was written in 1759 so I wasn’t expecting it to be laugh out loud funny, but it was. Have you ever listened to someone who was so dead set in their ideals, but when you actually heard their logic for their ideals that it made absolutely no sense? That is this book. Candide......more

Goodreads review by James on November 25, 2023

Re-read for my Open University studies, 2023. Voltaire's novel introduces the reader to Candide, a wide-eyed, calm and slightly bland young gentleman who resides at Castle Westphalia and who believes in the philosophy that "everything in the world is for the best." One of the first scenes is filled......more

Goodreads review by Fabian on October 26, 2020

Slightly disappointed with the next-Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I took on this classic next IN ONE SITTING. &... WOW! Where has this one been all my life? I adore "Candide" because it is rife with adventure, it is a speedy read, and at the very end you experience a vortex of feelings and NOVEL concepts. It......more

Goodreads review by Vit on June 11, 2021

All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds… And following this sententious wisdom Candide embarks on the quest of his life. Never was anything so gallant, so well accoutred, so brilliant, and so finely disposed as the two armies. The trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, and cannon made such h......more

Quotes

“Voltaire, a pivotal figure in the Enlightenment, made his mark with this satiric triumph following the woes of a young man who fell in love with the wrong woman.” Audible.com

“Penned by that Renaissance man of the Enlightenment, Voltaire, Candide is steeped in the political and philosophical controversies of the 1750s. But for the general reader, the novel’s driving principle is clear enough: the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and apparent folly, misery, and strife are actually harbingers of a greater good we cannot perceive, is hogwash.” Amazon.com

Awards

  • Audible Pick of the Best Audio Version of a Classic
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