Tuesday, February 4, 2003

Dates to Remember

Background of the Week: Candide, or Optimism

“Master Pangloss taught the metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology. He could prove to admiration that there is no effect without a cause; and, that in this best of all possible worlds, the Baron's castle was the most magnificent of all castles, and My Lady the best of all possible baronesses.”

—     Voltaire, Candide

In the 1750s, Voltaire grew increasingly appalled by the specters of injustice and inexplicable disaster that he saw around him.  Many terrible events influenced his composition of Candide: a disastrous earthquake in Lisbon in 1755; the outbreak of the horrific Seven Years' War in the German states in 1756; and the unjust execution of the English Admiral John Byng in 1757, against which Voltaire spoke out.  In 1759, Voltaire purchased Ferney, an estate near the border between France and Switzerland, so that he might easily flee across the border to escape French authorities.

Published in 1759, Candide is considered Voltaire's signature work, and it is here that he levels his sharpest criticism against nobility, philosophy, the church, and cruelty. Though often considered a representative text of the Enlightenment, the novel savagely satirizes a number of Enlightenment philosophies and demonstrates that the Enlightenment was a far from monolithic movement.[*]  In particular Voltaire takes aim at the philosophy of “Optimism” espoused by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz and others, and reduced here to Pangloss’s assertion that “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.”  The Optimists believed that God exists and is perfect, and that the world he created must therefore be perfect also; we perceive imperfections in the world only because we do not understand God’s great plan.  Given the vast inequities and cruelty witnessed in his lifetime, Voltaire could not accept this assertion.  Thus, while trying to remain optimists, Candide and the other characters in the novel encounter many horrors – war, floggings, rape, unjust executions, slavery, disease, natural disaster, betrayal, corruption, crushing boredom, and hypocrisy in all its forms.  By the end of the book, none of the characters quite believes in optimism anymore.  They find the best life they can by putting their time and effort into cultivating a small farm: working hard, being productive, and having little time left over for philosophical speculation.

For the curious who don’t have a copy of the book, the text of Candide is available online at various sites, including www.literature.org/authors/voltaire/candide/.  The Voltaire Society of America has excerpts from Voltaire’s letters and much interesting background material at humanities.uchicago.edu/homes/VSA/.

"Shameless Plugs"

♫ Duruflé Requiem, Revisited.  The Arlington Community Church in Kensington has begun rehearsing the Duruflé Requiem and welcomes additional singers.  If interested, contact director Leslie Moorjani at 510-843-7745, or just show up.  Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings from 8-9:30 pm at the church, 52 Arlington Avenue.


[*] Taken from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/candide/context.html