Introduction

Abstract

In his novel Candide (1759), Voltaire tells the story of a young man who hears from his teacher that this world is ‘the best of all possible worlds’ but then experiences a series of troubles and misfortunes that seems to challenge this optimism: Candide is flogged, witnesses a battle, learns that the girl he loves has been murdered, loses his protector in a storm, finds Lisbon destroyed by an earthquake, is beaten again, hears that his girl has been raped and used as a sex slave, must accept that she marries someone else for his money, has to flee from the inquisition, is almost eaten by cannibals, finds that the gold he just acquired is stolen from him, and when he finally settles into a more peaceful life, he grows bored. At the end, he finds happiness, but after having gone through so many troubles, that seems small consolation.