The Old Woman Knows the World

The old woman has been saving Candide's life since Lisbon, and on the ship to the New World she finally explains who she is. Voltaire gives her the strangest and funniest aria in the book: a pope's daughter, a poisoned bridegroom, pirates, plague, and a siege that costs her something you will not guess. Salman Rushdie reads it the way he first did at sixteen, when one scandalous line of Italian became his favorite sentence in the novel. Then he follows the tale where it truly goes: to the question of suicide, and to why, after everything she has seen, this old woman chooses to keep living.

Content note: this episode includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you love is struggling, or thinking about suicide, you don't have to carry it alone. In the United States, you can call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, or chat online at 988lifeline.org. Outside the United States, findahelpline.com lists free, confidential support lines by country.