Salman Rushdie on Voltaire's Candide
"The work survives. The writers sometimes don't."
Those Who Walk Away from Eldorado
Why does Candide leave the perfect city? John Kaag on Voltaire, Rushdie, and the gold that is worthless until you carry it out.
Read the introduction →- 1 Sixteen, in French Class Episode 1 • 12 min • Members
- 2 Paradise, Lost Episode 2 • 14 min • Members
- 3 The Earthquake Argument Episode 3 • 14 min • Members
- 4 Stories Within Stories Episode 4 • 9 min • Members
- 5 The Old Woman Knows the World Episode 5 • 10 min • Members
- 6 The New World Is the Old World Episode 6 • 15 min • Members
- 7 Why Would You Ever Leave? Episode 7 • 11 min • Members
- 8 The Mutilated Slave Episode 8 • 10 min • Members
- 9 Martin, or the Problem of Evil Episode 9 • 12 min • Members
- 10 Angry Laughter Episode 10 • 13 min • Members
- 11 Power Disappoints Episode 11 • 15 min • Members
- 12 Not Irrevocably Dead Episode 12 • 15 min • Members
- 13 The Women in the Book Episode 13 • 15 min • Members
- 14 The Blot on the Book Episode 14 • 13 min • Members
- 15 Realism Is Unrealistic Episode 15 • 15 min • Members
- 16 Cultivate Your Garden Episode 16 • 14 min • Members
In Conversation With – Where this book meets another
The Questions these books keep starting →
The Philosophy Behind Candide: Optimism and Its Discontents
Candide's target is Leibniz's best of all possible worlds — optimism as a system for looking away from actual suffering.
Go deeper →Who's Who in Candide: Voltaire's Cast, Read with Salman Rushdie
Voltaire's characters are philosophical positions in motion: Rushdie on Candide, Pangloss, Cunégonde, and what each one is built to prove.
Go deeper →What Is Candide About? Randomness, Not Optimism
Candide is Voltaire's satire of Leibnizian optimism — and, Salman Rushdie argues, a book whose real subject is randomness, not hope.
Go deeper →What Does "Cultivate Your Garden" Mean in Candide?
Rushdie reads Voltaire's last line as a counsel of work, not retreat — a question the book refuses to close
Go deeper →- Was Charlotte Lucas Right to Marry Mr. Collins? Sadie Stein on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
- What Does the A on Hester's Chest Actually Mean? Megan Marshall on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
- Was Thoreau Selfish? The Question of Self-Reliance John Kaag on Henry David Thoreau's Walden
- What Is Kant's Categorical Imperative? Paul Guyer on Immanuel Kant