[bfisher]

I read the 2005 translation by Theo Cuffe (thanks for the recommendation, issybird). That may have made some difference.

Satire that is more than 250 years old doesn’t always travel well, because we live in such a different world. In Voltaire’s world, writers did not publish the crimes and follies of the ruling classes; there are good reasons why Voltaire lived so often in Switzerland or near the Swiss border. Candide was shocking at the time, simply because it was published and distributed; it would have been regarded as a libel of God’s Church and the rulers appointed by God.

Perhaps that is why, living in a world where the rich and powerful are thin and poor people are obese, the line “The Baroness, who weighed approximately three hundred and fifty pounds, and consequently basked in very great esteem...” seems odd, Voltaire meant it to be funny. Likewise, in a Germany bursting with petty nobles, “The Baron was one of the most powerful lords of Westphalia, for his castle had a gate and windows”.

Still, there are some great lines in this book, which kept me reading. For example, at Candide’s auto-da-fe: “...they walked in procession, and listened to a most affecting sermon, followed by a delightful piece of plainchant monotony. Candide was flogged in cadence to the singing...”. Cunegonde revisits that in her reunion with Candide: “...my mind was spinning...with the hanging of Dr.Pangloss, and that great plainchant miserere they intoned while you were being flogged”.

Then there is the brilliant satire of “...inserted their fingers into that orifice...it is a custom established from time immemorial among the civilized seafaring nations...It is one article of international law that is never neglected.” and, of the Jesuit Paraguay missions, “Los Padres own everything, and the people own the rest; it is a masterpiece of justice and reason.”