Candide and Other Works - Couverture souple

Voltaire

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1840227303 ISBN 13 : 9781840227307

Editeur : Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 2014

Synopsis

With an Introduction and Notes by James Fowler, Senior Lecturer in French, University of Kent Candide (1759) is a bright, colourful literary firework display of a novella. With sparkling wit and biting humour, Voltaire hits several targets with fierce and comic satire: organised religion, the overweening pride of aristocrats, merchants' greed, colonial ambition and the hopeless complacency of Leibnizian philosophy that believes 'all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds'. Through this rites of passage story, with his central character, Candide, a naïve and impressionable young man, Voltaire attacks the social ills of his day, which remarkably remain as pertinent now as ever.

Zadig is a tale of love and detection. Edgar Allan Poe was inspired by this story when he created C. Auguste Dupin in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue', a story which established the modern detective fiction genre. The Ingenu recounts how a young man raised by Huron Indians discover the ways of Europe. Nanine is a sharp three act comedy concerned with marital dilemmas. In all these works Voltaire manages to combine humour with trenchant satire in a highly entertaining fashion.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

With an Introduction and Notes by James Fowler, Senior Lecturer in French, University of Kent

Voltaire is one of the three greatest French writers of the eighteenth century. He fought against religious persecution, bigotry and injustice throughout his life, and is one of the thinkers who prepared the way for the French Revolution. This volume contains: Zadig (1748), the story of a young man who becomes king of Babylon; Candide (1759), Voltaire’s most famous tale of all; and (in a new translation by Editor James Fowler) The Ingenu (1767), in which the hero, raised by Huron Indians, discovers the ways of Europe. The heroes of these tales are young, handsome, talented, and naïve. All three are animated by Voltaire’s sparkling wit, but also by his dark satire of ancient régime society. The volume closes with a new translation of Nanine, Voltaire’s three-act comedy which was seen, first as dangerously meritocratic, then as anti-revolutionary. The hero falls in love with a servant girl: but will he overcome society’s prejudice and marry her?

Biographie de l'auteur

Francois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778) was better known under his nom de plume of Voltaire. A prolific writer of over 2,000 books and booklets and over 20,000 letters, he is best remembered for novels such as 'Candide'.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2014
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1840227303
• ISBN 13: 9781840227307
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 368
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible