Voltaire s Candide A Critique Of Politics And Religion...

When Franà §ois-Marie Arouet, better known by his pen-name Voltaire, secretly published Candide, ou l Optimisme simultaneously in five European countries in January of 1759, it was met with widespread denouncement due to its controversial content and scandalous portrayal of politics and religion. Nevertheless, the bitingly satirical novel fervently spread throughout Europe and was translated into several more languages, selling tens of thousands of copies within its first year of publication (Barnes). Despite being first categorized as dangerous blasphemy, Candide is now regarded as one of the most influential books of all time. Almost 300 years later, Candide is considered an unparalleled criticism of politics and religion during the Age of Enlightenment. Today, Candide is used in the study of European Enlightenment thinkers and philosophers as a first-hand account of the faults within the value systems of government, religion, and society during the 18th Century. Through its sarcastic portrayal of seemingly absurd customs and traditions, Candide illustrates Europe in all of its flawed glory. As a prominent figure of the Enlightenment, Voltaire sought to publicize his views on society in a digestible, entertaining, and condensed medium like Candide (â€Å"Voltaire†). Written in a period of exile and fear in his life, Candide acted as Voltaire’s biting response to the crushing weight of outdated societal customs. Europe during Voltaire’s era was still a place of censorship andShow MoreRelatedVoltaire s Candide And 17th Century1983 Words   |  8 PagesCandide and 18th Century According to James Schmidt s article Civility, Enlightenment, and Society: Conceptual Confessions of Kantian Remedies, The Enlightenment is routinely characterized as embracing a conception of reason that is held to be insufficiently sensitive to its own limits (Schmidt 421). The term enlighten means to clarify or clear things up, the majority of the time a person would give a reason to enlighten a situation. The Enlightenment period focused majorly on reasoning and