Shabbat Reading: Voltaire's Candide, or Optimism

#whatireadovershabbat Voltaire’s Candide, or Optimism (trans. Burton Raffel)

Doesn’t everything work out for the best? That’s the optimistic question that Candide, the hero of Voltaire’s zany, satirical novel, asks himself and everyone he meets over the course of an absurd series of tragedies and mock triumphs. The answer is obviously no—and Voltaire invites us to laugh, cringe, and groan while Candide wises up. The book’s humor is acid, the awfulness unsettling, but the story rollicks and the lessons stick.