Candide-Voltaire
Reading Voltaire was a strange experience. All I had was a vague idea that he was a renowned French philosopher. I didn't even know what his philosophy was. I still don't know.
Candide was a controversial book when it was published. It is said that Voltaire mocked at a couple of then prominent political, religious and philosophical figures in this novel. To be frank, I didn't enjoy it the way I could have enjoyed had I had a thorough understanding of the background of that era.
Voltaire never admitted to having written the controversial Candide. The work is signed with a pseudonym "Mr. Dr. Ralph."
The core idea of Voltaire was to mock at the then eminent German polymath Leibniz who thought mankind lives in the best of possible worlds. The naive protagonist of Voltaire, Candide, goes through the worst imaginable conditions. Having born and brought up in the coziest of atmosphere, one fine day he got thrown out to face the real, harsh world outside.
The best of Voltaire comes out in this sentence where Candide's philosopher teacher tells him - Nose is there in that shape so that we can keep spectacles on them.
Candide was Voltaire's, an agnostic, way of lashing up the clergy he loathed and the same novel led to the Church's loathing towards him.
The events, the narration, the thought - everything is so different from any book I have read. Though I didn't particularly admire this kind of prose, it still made quick and good read.
Candide was a controversial book when it was published. It is said that Voltaire mocked at a couple of then prominent political, religious and philosophical figures in this novel. To be frank, I didn't enjoy it the way I could have enjoyed had I had a thorough understanding of the background of that era.
Voltaire never admitted to having written the controversial Candide. The work is signed with a pseudonym "Mr. Dr. Ralph."
The core idea of Voltaire was to mock at the then eminent German polymath Leibniz who thought mankind lives in the best of possible worlds. The naive protagonist of Voltaire, Candide, goes through the worst imaginable conditions. Having born and brought up in the coziest of atmosphere, one fine day he got thrown out to face the real, harsh world outside.
The best of Voltaire comes out in this sentence where Candide's philosopher teacher tells him - Nose is there in that shape so that we can keep spectacles on them.
Candide was Voltaire's, an agnostic, way of lashing up the clergy he loathed and the same novel led to the Church's loathing towards him.
The events, the narration, the thought - everything is so different from any book I have read. Though I didn't particularly admire this kind of prose, it still made quick and good read.
Labels: books
posted by Dew Drops at 1:55 AM
1 Comments:
Voltaire's sharp wit & sarcasm of the comtempory 18th century high-class society portray similar feelings harboured by Oscar Wilde of the 19th century English society. The former was better known for his philosophical writings though. He preached 'freedom of religion' and strongly opposed the Christian philosophies.
I personaly feel he was a great thinker and conform to most of his thoughts.
"the safest course is dat of one's conscience" he said.
Its true wat u said abt having a better understanding of a book after getting an insight into the socio-economic atmosphere governing that period of time.
~AY~
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