Candide and other stories (New edition)

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Voltaire is one of the three greatest French writers of the eighteenth century. He fought against religious persecution, bigotry and injustice throughout his life, and is one of the thinkers who prepared the way for the French Revolution. This volume contains: Zadig(1748), the story of a young man who becomes king of Babylon; Candide(1759), Voltaire x2019;s most famous tale of all; and (in a new translation by Editor James Fowler) The Ingenu(1767), in which the hero, raised by Huron Indians, discovers the ways of Europe. The heroes of these tales are young, handsome, talented, and na xEF;ve. All three are animated by Voltaire x2019;s sparkling wit, but also by his dark satire of ancient r xE9;gime society. The volume closes with a new translation of Nanine, Voltaire x2019;s three-act comedy which was seen, first as dangerously meritocratic, then as anti-revolutionary. The hero falls in love with a servant girl: but will he overcome society x2019;s prejudice and marry her?