Candide: Or Optimism - Paperback

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by Voltaire (Author), Theo Cuffe (Translator), Michael Wood (Introduction by)

Theo Cuffe's marvelous translation of Voltaire's satirical masterpiece

With its vibrant translation and perceptive introduction, this edition of Voltaire's masterpiece belongs in the hands of every reader pondering our assumptions about human behavior and our place in the world. Candide tells of the hilarious adventures of the naïve Candide, who doggedly believes that "all is for the best" even when faced with injustice, suffering, and despair. Controversial and entertaining, Candide is a book that is vitally relevant today in our world pervaded by--as Candide would say--"the mania for insisting that all is well when all is by no means well."

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Author Biography

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer, satirist, the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. Among his best-known works is the satirical short story CANDIDE (1759).

Michael Wood (introducer) is currently Straut Professor of English at Princeton. His books include Stendhal, America in the Movies, The Magician's Doubts, Franz Kafka, and The Road to Delphi.

Theo Cuffe (translator) has also translated a selection of Voltaire's short stories for Penguin, Micromégas and Other Short Fictions.

Number of Pages: 208

Dimensions: 0.5 x 7.84 x 5.3 IN

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

Accelerated Reader:

Quiz Name: Candide

Interest Level: Upper Grades, 9-12

Reading Level: 7.3

Point Value: 5