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(Please click on one of the 18 titles listed below to access notes on a selected topic)

1) SUMMARY OF THE BOOK WITH COMMENTARY

2) The life and character of Voltaire

It is important to read about Voltaire's life in order to understand how he came to form his opinons which are the basis of this livre philosophique

(3) Identifying the literary genre to which the book belongs.

In order to understand the book that we are reading, it is useful to look at a book of similar genre in English literature.

PHILOSOPHICAL OPTIMISM

(As these are long notes, I have divided the notes on Philosophical Optimism into four sections - essays 4-7 )

4) Optimistic Philosophy in the eighteenth century

5) Direct references to Philosophical Optimism in the book

6) Voltaire's hostility to Philosophical Optimism

7) Voltaire's evidence against Philosophical Optimism

(If Voltaire is attacking optimism, we ask the question whether this makes for a gloomy, pessimistic book? Topics 8- 10 are relevant to this question)

8) Is "Candide" a totally pessimistic book?

9) What is Candide's final philosophy of life?

10) Voltaire's literary style (This topic is relevant to the question of pessimism also because the style serves to dispel any gloomy tone)

(Finally we discuss the characters in topics 11- 18)

11) Are the characters merely puppets?

12) The Character of Candide

13) The character of Pangloss

14) The character of Cunegonde

15) The character of the German Jesuit Baron

16) The character of the old woman

17) The character of Cacambo

18)The character of Martin

(Picture right) Candide is expelled from the Baron's castle with kicks up the backside after Cunegonde had invited him to join her in secret scientific experiments.

(Picture below) The massive destruction and loss of life in the Lisbon earthquake was the final straw in Voltaire's rejection of the ideas of the Optimist philosophers of the 18th century.