Candide

An especially fitting book to read today. At end, this book (arguably Voltaire’s magnum opus) is an assault on underserved, naive optimism, (especially the philosophical concept of optimism posed by Leibniz in his “doctrine of best of possible worlds.”) It is a parody that still transcends time; an equal opportunity roast of different cultures, viewpoints and half-baked, romantic assumptions of good nature.

It is also worth noting how hilarious Voltaire was after the controversial, anonymous publishing of the book during a time in which such content was heretical and punishable by death, writing: “people must have lost their senses to attribute to me that pack of nonsense. I have, thank God, better occupations.”

You can probably count me the kind of person Voltaire would include in his black humor, especially for how I interpret Candide. But I don’t read it as a total rejection of the concept of optimism, or as nihilistic — only as a needed reality check for optimism embodied lazily and inside a blanket of privilege. It is a reminder of the world that exists, of base human violence that can erupt, that can be returned to when society does not work to solve its own issues with compassion.