Candide or the optimism

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The first edition of the Candide at Cramer in Geneva, 1759

Candide or optimism (French: Candide ou l'optimisme ) is a satirical novella by the French philosopher Voltaire published in 1759 under the pseudonym Docteur Ralph . In 1776 a German translation appeared under the title Candide or the best of all worlds .

This satire turns against, among other things, the optimistic worldview of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , who postulated the best of all possible worlds . Voltaire propagates skepticism and pessimism , which put Leibniz's postulate in the context of the time (impression of the Lisbon earthquake in 1755, Seven Years War ) and question them. With wit and irony, Voltaire denounces the arrogant nobility , the ecclesiastical inquisition , war and slavery in his “conte philosophique” and mocks the naive utopia of the common man of a carefree life.

Paul Klee : Candide 1st cap. “Chasse Candide du château à grands coups de pied dans le derrière”, 1911, pen on paper on cardboard, Zentrum Paul Klee , Bern

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Voltaire chooses the “wonderfully peaceful Westphalia ” as the setting for his story, which, analogous to many mythologies (including the biblical), begins in the original “best of all possible worlds ”. The simply knitted hero Candide, the illegitimate nephew of the Westphalian baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, is banished from the Westphalian home palace after he has been caught red-handed with the beautiful Princess Cunégonde. The expulsion turns him out of that paradise , in which his teacher Pangloss (from ancient Greek pan “everything, comprehensive” and glotta “tongue, language”, roughly “all-rounder”) tries to bring Leibniz's theory of the “best of all worlds” closer to him .

On the subsequent trip, the theory of optimism is visibly led ad absurdum . Because what happens to him on his journey across Europe and overseas is characterized by a chain of accidental accidents, catastrophes and unlikely rescues that lead him to the most remote places in the world. So he falls into the clutches of Bulgarian soldiers who are waging a cruel war, comes to Lisbon when the well-known, devastating earthquake hits there, in order to discover his beloved, now enslaved, wounded and almost continuously raped Cunégonde. However, he soon has to leave her to save his life and flees to Paraguay via Cádiz , where he meets his companion Cacambo . There he meets a Jesuit German baron who turns out to be Cunégonde's brother. When he learns that the middle-class Candide wants to marry his noble sister, he is so outraged that he wants to kill Candide, but in the process kills himself.

Again Candide has to flee. On a rapid underground river, he and his loyal companion Cacambo unexpectedly reach El Dorado , a former Inca empire hermetically sealed off by steep mountains, in which gold and precious stones pave the streets and in which tolerance , prosperity and peace are perfectly realized. The two adventurers are pampered hospitably for a month and never cease to be amazed. But then Candide leaves this paradise again, heavily laden with riches, to search for Cunégonde as the only true happiness. On the trip he meets the old philosopher Martin in Suriname and makes him his second companion. In conversations with this experienced Dutch pessimist, Candide learns to recognize greed and malice as the driving forces behind human life. In this way he gradually becomes more critical and, after all the suffering he has seen and experienced all over the world, gives less and less faith to the optimistic philosophy.

After disappointing stays in Paris (where Candide is unfaithful to his Cunégonde for one night), Portsmouth and Venice, Candide, Martin and Cacambo finally arrive in Constantinople . There they find not only his teacher Pangloss, who had long been believed dead, but also Cunégonde, the latter, however, horribly mutilated. Candide resignedly decides to marry her anyway. He buys an estate in which he settles with his companions and dedicates himself to agriculture. There everyone gives their best ("chacun se with à exercer ses talents"), the ugly Cunégonde becomes a good cook, the wise Martin recommends: "Travaillons sans raisonner, [...] c'est le seul moyen de rendre la vie supportable" (“Let's work without thinking, that is the only way to make life bearable”), and Pangloss, who continues to preach unclouded optimism, is endorsed by Candide in the last sentence of the novella with the knowledge: “Celebien dit, […] mais il faut cultiver notre jardin ”(“ Well said, but our garden needs to be cultivated ”). In his negative fairy tale, which deals with the ineradicable incorrigibility of humans, Voltaire ultimately offers a way out by restricting himself to common, banal domestic work.

expenditure

First editions

The printing history of the Candide is complex and even today not all details have been clarified. When the text was published, it was threatened by censorship in Geneva and France alike. Voltaire and his publishers therefore developed an ingenious strategy to let a ban and the threatened confiscation come to nothing. Presumably a proof was made in Geneva as early as 1758, which was smuggled at least to London to Nourse, to Paris to Lambert and probably also to Amsterdam to Rey. Multi-site printing could no longer be prevented because of the lack of cooperation between the censorship authorities.

  • It is documented that the 299-page first Cramer edition was distributed in Geneva for mid-January 1759 (Sigle 299G).
  • The 237-page first Lambert edition was published in Paris at the beginning of February (Sigle 237P).
  • This was followed by the 299-page Nourse edition in London (Sigle 299L).

These three editions differ in some text passages, but thereby point to a common model - probably to the proof postulated by A. Morize and Ira Owen Wade. The Frères Cramer in Geneva are probably the first, but not the legitimate printers in the sense of today's copyright law.

A total of at least 17 different French prints appeared in several places in Europe in 1759 without any indication of the author. The first English translation, Candid, or All fo the best , was published by Nourse. A second translation by William Rider appeared in April 1759 under the title Candidus, or the Optimist , and was printed in at least three separate editions in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. Further translations into Italian Candido, o l'ottimismo and Dutch followed that same year. The first German translation by Johann Albrecht Philippi appeared in 1761. The total circulation of the 1759 editions in French is estimated at 20,000 copies. In addition, there are around 10,000 copies of the translations. In the Oxford edition of works published by Theodore Bestermann , the editions are grouped according to their page number and sorted and assigned to known printing locations based on their typographical and textual features as well as the watermarks. A 167-page edition and a 301-page edition printed on paper with a Basel watermark can be assigned to the German-speaking region.

The final version of the Candide was published in 1761 as part of the Cramer edition.

The La Vallière manuscript of the Candide

In 1959, the only known manuscript of the candid text from the collection of the Duc de La Vallière was discovered. It was probably written in October 1758 according to Voltaire's dictation and, apart from marginalia, only differs from the early book versions in chapters 19 and 22. The text in the handwriting of Voltaire's secretary Jean-Louis Wagnière was here modified by Voltaire himself. The manuscript allowed Ira Owen Wade and André Morize a chronological assignment of the early editions. The third edition in London is closer to the manuscript than the editions in Geneva and Paris and, because of the typographical similarities, should therefore be based on a common printed model.

The previously known 1759 editions based on the Oxford work edition

  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (Geneva Cramer), 12 °, 299 S. (Sigle 299G) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (London Nourse), 12 °, 299 S. (Sigle 299L) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (London unknown), 12 °, 299 S. (Sigle 299La)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (Paris after Morize Prault), 12 °, 299 p. (Sigle 299P) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (Paris after Morize Lambert), 12 °, 237 S. (Sigle 237P) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France unknown), 12 °, 237 (3) S. (Sigle 237)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France unknown), 12 °, 237 (3) S. (Sigle 237a)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France unknown), 12 °, 237 (3) S. (Sigle 237b)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France province unknown), 12 °, 237 (3) S. (Sigle 237c)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France unknown), 12 °, 237 (3) S. (Sigle 237d)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (Switzerland Basel? Or Germany unknown), 12 °, 301 S. (Sigle 301) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France province unknown), 12 °, 215 p. (Sigle 215)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (France province unknown), 12 °, 215 S. (Sigle 215a) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (Italy? Unknown), 12 °, 190 p. (Sigle 190)
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (Holland Rey?), 12 °, 176 p. (Sigle 176) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand par Mr. de Volt *** , without imprint (Holland unknown), 12 °, 167 S. (Sigle 167) online
  • Candide, Ou L'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph , without imprint (unknown), 12 °, 167 p. (Sigle 167a)

Recent German editions (selection)

  • 1958: Candide or optimism. Translated from the German by Herr Doktor Ralph including the remarks that were found in the doctor's pocket when he died in Minden in 1759. Translated by Wilhelm Christhelf Sigismund Mylius (1778), linguistically updated. Edited by Prof. Dr. Manfred Neumann, Rütten & Loening, Berlin W 8. Illustration and overall equipment by Werner Klemke . (Thirty numbered copies of this work were signed by Werner Klemke and hand-bound by Beate Glum at the National Printing House in Berlin.)
    • 2nd edition 1959
    • 3rd edition 1964
  • 1971: Candid or The Best of the Worlds. German Transmission and afterword by Ernst Sander . Philipp Reclam jun., Universal Library No. 6549, Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-006549-6 .
  • 1972: Candide or Optimism. Translated from German by Dr. Ralph and annotated with notes that were found in the doctor's pocket when he died in Minden in 1759 , from the French by Ilse Lehmann , with drawings by Paul Klee . Frankfurt / M .: Insel Verlag, ISBN 3-458-31711-2 .
  • 2001: Candide or Optimism. Translated from the German by Herr Doktor Ralph including the remarks that were found in the doctor's pocket when he died in Minden in 1759. Translated by Stephan Hermlin . Reclam, Leipzig, ISBN 3-379-01725-6 (RUB 1725).
  • 2003: Candide or Optimism. Edited and translated by Wolfgang Tschöke, dtv / Hanser, Munich, ISBN 3-423-13009-1 .
  • 2006: Candide - or optimism. Edited by Heinz-Joachim Fischer , German translation by Ulrich Bossier . Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden, ISBN 3-86539-094-3 .

Audio books

Illustrations for Candide

Daniel Chodowiecki 1777 for the edition published by Verlag Friedrich Christian Himburg 1778

Jean-Michel Moreau 1787 for the work edition Kehl 1784–1789

Jean-Michel Moreau 1801 for the unpublished work edition Renouard

Reception and edits

After Voltaire, other writers have also taken on the elucidation of the subject. The most famous works are Johann Karl Wezel's Belphegor or the Most Likely Story Under the Sun (1776) and Johann Pezzl's Faustin or the Philosophical Century (1783).

As early as 1784 an episode from the 26th chapter was shortened to the two historical figures of King Theodore and Sultan Akhmet III. transcribed into a libretto by Giambattista Casti and set to music by Giovanni Paisiello as Il Re Teodoro in Venezia .

In 1956 Leonard Bernstein created the musical Candide , a comic operetta in two acts. Bernstein understood it musically as a "declaration of love for European music". Recording with the London Symphony Orchestra : Deutsche Grammophon (1989), audio CD Art.-No .: 429734-2. New version 1974 as a musical in one act.

In 1974 the film was released Mondo Candido by Gualtiero Jacopetti .

Candide was dramatized by Serge Ganzl in 1977.

Inclusion of the candidate material by other authors

  • Louis Olivier de Marconnay: Remerciment de Candide a Mr. de Voltaire , Halle and Amsterdam, Schneider, 1760, 12 °, 33 pp.
  • Charles-Claude-Florent de Thorel de Campigneulles: Candide: ou, L'optimisme, seconde partie , without imprint, 1761, 8 °, 131 pp.
  • Harny de Guerville: Candidamentor, ou le Voyageur grec, histoire traduite du grec, contenant des événements intéressants ... , Athens and Paris, Cailleau, 1766, 12 °, XXIV, 167 pp.
  • Simon Nicolas Henri Linguet (pseud .: Dr. Pangloss): La Cacomonade, histoire politique et morale, traduite de l'allemand du Docteur Pangloss, par le Docteur lui-meme, depuis son retour de Constantinople , Cologne (London and Paris) , 1766, 12 ° 12, 105 (2) p.
  • Jean-Henri Maubert de Gouvest : Candide en Dannemarc, Ou L'Optimisme Des Honnêtes-Gens , Geneva, 1767, 8 °, 236 (2) pp.
  • Jean-Louis Castilhon: Candide anglois, or Avantures tragi-comiques d'Amb. Gwinett avant et dans ses voyages aux deux Indes , Frankfurt and Leipzig, Aux dépens de la Compagnie, 1771, 8 °, 184 pp.
  • Samuel Baur: Travels of a Negress: Characteristic paintings from the moral and raw world; A counterpart to Voltaire's Candide; Adapted from the French , Nuremberg: in the Felßecker bookshop, 1790.
  • Etienne François de Lantier: Antoine Bernard et Rosalie, ou le petit Candide , Paris, Ancelle, 1796, 12 ° 176 p.
  • Justus Möser : Anti-Candide . First published by Friedrich Nicolai in 1798; preserved only in fragments.
  • Jean de Sales: Mémoires de Candide, sur la liberté de presse: la paix générale, les fondemens de l'ordre social, et d'autres bagatelles , Altona, 1802, 301 (2) p.
  • Louis François Marie Bellin de la Liborlière: Voyage de M. Candide fils au pays d'Eldorado: vers la fin du dix-huitième siècle: pour servir de suite aux aventures de M. son Père , Paris, Barba, 1803, 224 pp.
  • Franz Spencer, Ginny G von Bülow: Candide 19th or the lousy century , Berlin, Aufbau-Taschenbücher 1029, 1994, 187 pp.

Candide price

In 2004, the Minden Literary Association founded the Candide Prize , a literary prize that was awarded until 2011. The name after Voltaire's work Candide is based on the fact that its alleged author, "Doctor Ralph", died in Minden in 1759 (an allusion to the battle of Minden ).

literature

  • Pol Gaillard: Candide (1759): Voltaire. Résumé, personnages, thèmes. Hatier, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-218-04724-1 (Collection profil littérature; Profil d'une œuvre, vol. 34)
  • Michel Charpentier, Jeanne Charpentier: Reading aids Voltaire, "Candide". 5th edition. Klett, Stuttgart a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-12-922406-8 (Velcro reading aids, French)
  • Till R. Kuhnle: Voltaire - 'Candide ou l'optimisme' / 'Candide or the optimism' , in: Geppert, Hans Vilmar (Hrsg.): Große Werke der Literatur VI , Tübingen u. Basel: Francke 2001, 69-88
  • Caroline Mannweiler: Continuity of the Enlightenment? Some remarks on comedy and realism in Voltaire and Flaubert. In: Carsten Jakobi, Christine Waldschmidt (Hrsg.): Witz undreality. Comedy as a form of aesthetic appropriation of the world . Bielefeld: transcript 2015, pp. 241–272
  • Candide. Illustrated editions of a classic. Catalog of an exhibition in the Trier University Library. Trier University Library, Trier 2000 (exhibition catalogs Trier Libraries, Vol. 32)

Web links

Commons : Candide  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Kandide  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. Richard Schwaderer: Candide, ou l'optimiste , in: Volpi, Franco and Julian Nida-Rümelin , Lexikon der philosophischen Werke , 1988, p. 61f.
  2. Ruth Weiss: Candide and Wilhelmine. In: SBB Blog. February 1, 2016, accessed February 4, 2016 .
  3. Materials for studying the reception history of Voltaire's "Candide" (University of Trier)
  4. ^ Eckhardt van den Hoogen: ABC of the opera. The great musical dramas and their composers , Eichborn, 2003, p. 82
  5. Lothar Knapp: Candide or Der Optimismus , in: Wilpert , Lexikon der Weltliteratur , Vol. 2, 1993, p. 200
  6. Responsible: SWR . Particularly suitable for secondary school. The broadcast (30 min.) Is also available on a data carrier.