'If this is the best of all possible worlds, then what must the others be like?'

Young Candide is tossed on a hilarious tide of misfortune, experiencing the full horror and injustice of this 'best of all possible worlds' - the Old and the New - before finally accepting that his old philosophy tutor Dr Pangloss has got it all wrong.  There are no grounds for his daft theory of Optimism.  Yet life goes on.  We must cultivate our garden, for there is certainly room for improvement.

Candide is the most famous of Voltaire's "philosophical tales," in which he combined witty improbabilities with the sanest of good sense. First published in 1759, it was an instant bestseller and has come to be regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. What Candide does for chivalric romance, the other tales in this selection--Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull--do for science fiction, the Oriental tale, the sentimental novel, and the Old Testament. The most extensive one-volume selection currently available, this new edition includes a new verse translation of the story Voltaire based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale: What Pleases the Ladies and opens with a revised introduction that reflects recent critical debates, including a new section on Candide.

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Features

• This well-established selection of Voltaire's philosophical stories is now updated and expanded to include the verse tale What Pleases the Ladies
• The most extensive one-volume selection currently available.
• Revised introduction reflects recent critical debates and includes a new section on Voltaire's verse tales, increasingly seen as belonging with his prose tales.
• Revised notes and updated bibliography.

ABOUT THE SERIES

For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Candide
Micromegas
Zadig
The Ingenu
The White Bull
What Pleases the Ladies

Voltaire

Translated by Roger Pearson, University Lecturer in French Fellow and Tutor in French University of Oxford.

In addition to Voltaire, Roger Pearson has translated Zola, La Bête humaine, and Maupassant, A Life for OWC, and Zola's Germinal for Penguin.