"the best of all possible worlds"?

There's a review of a book by Edward Paice in the Telegraph that gives some useful background to Candide.

The book is about the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 and the reviewer discusses the effect this major disaster had on Voltaire. In Candide, Candide's tutor, Dr Pangloss, keeps repeating Leibniz's view that everything is "for the best in the best of all possible worlds".

If you click HERE you'll find a link to a translation of some lines from Voltaire's poem on the Lisbon earthquake. You can find the text in French with Voltaire's preface (also in French) HERE.

Bernstein's Candide

from kathy bell

This blog is for everyone involved in Humanities Reads. If you are unsure how to post, ask me.

I'll leave others to comment on Voltaire. However, here is a clip from Leonard Bernstein's musical of Candide - from a concert performance of the 2005 Broadway production.





I hope lots of people will contribute posts and comments to this bog.