ABOUT THE BOOK:- Candide begins in the German town of Westphalia, where Candide, a young man, lives in the castle of Baron of Thunder - ten- tronckh. A noted philosopher, Doctor Pangloss, tutors the baron on philosophical optimism. Candide, a simple man, first accepts this philosophy, but as he experiences the horrors of war, poverty, the maliciousness of man, and the hypocrisy of the Church, he begins to doubt the voracity of Pangloss’s theory. Thus, philosophical optimism is the focus of Voltaire’s Satire; anti-war and antichurch refrains also run throughout the novel. Candide makes his way to a neighbouring town, where he is aided by two soldiers. He is pressed into service and endures beating at the hands of his superiors. He was slapped in every direction by fate. In Paris, Candide becomes ill and is attended by a variety of people, all of whom want a piece of his fortune. He recovers, but is tricked by an actress into giving away much of his fortune and is eventually arrested by the police.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:- Francois – Marie Arouet (Voltaire) (1694 - 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and Philosopher, famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and separation of Church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the script censorship laws of the time. Voltair’s best known histories are “The Age of Louis (1751), and his “Essay on the customs and the spirit of the nation (1756). He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasised customs, social history and achievements in the arts and sciences.
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