Scarred from the Devil’s Elixir, it was pleasing to discover that Candide was much darker and funnier. Taking potshots at religion, politics, philosophy, monarchy, etc. it is scabrous even when some of the humour is lost on a contemporary reader. It is not really much of a novel (no character development, a silly, slight plot) more of a series of Pythonesque episodes which become increasingly absurd and enjoyable.
Sharply satirical insight into the obsessions of an 18th-century rationalist, where outrageous things are done by and to Jesuits, priests, princes and other symbols of the Establishment. These aren’t our obsessions of course, but the inventiveness of the story-telling keeps the 21st-century reader engaged, and more than once there are moments that make one laugh out loud.
Scarred from the Devil’s Elixir, it was pleasing to discover that Candide was much darker and funnier. Taking potshots at religion, politics, philosophy, monarchy, etc. it is scabrous even when some of the humour is lost on a contemporary reader. It is not really much of a novel (no character development, a silly, slight plot) more of a series of Pythonesque episodes which become increasingly absurd and enjoyable.
Sharply satirical insight into the obsessions of an 18th-century rationalist, where outrageous things are done by and to Jesuits, priests, princes and other symbols of the Establishment. These aren’t our obsessions of course, but the inventiveness of the story-telling keeps the 21st-century reader engaged, and more than once there are moments that make one laugh out loud.