This Broadview Edition follows the text of a 1759 English translation that was released concurrently with Voltaire’s first French edition. Candide is supplemented by Voltaire’s most important poetic and humanistic writings on God and evil, the Poem upon the Destruction of Lisbon and We Must Take Sides. The editor’s introduction situates the novel in its philosophical and intellectual setting; the appendices include other writings by Voltaire, as well as related writings by Bayle, Leibniz, Pope, Rousseau, and others that place the work in its poetic, philosophical, and humanistic contexts.
Eric Palmer is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania.