Showing results for "Voltaire" in Classics

If we were as tiny as ants to another being, what would they make of our philosophies? The great satirist Voltaire imagines alien visitors who have opinions. Bedtime stories are narrated by the world's most celebrated voices and written with no beginning, middle, or end so you don't stay up to hear what happens next. They're interesting enough to give your mind something to focus on, but delivered in a way that encourages sleep.

These two classic coming-of-age stories by Voltaire parody the romanticism of his day with the ruthless wit that has made him the undisputed master of social commentary.

Discover why intellectuals and historians alike consider Voltaire to be one of the most intriguing, influential, and elusive thinkers of the modern world. Focusing on the deepest, most enduring aspects of Voltaire's work and thought, but never losing sight of the colorful, fascinating man himself, these 12 lectures sketch for you a vibrant, thought-provoking vision of Voltaire as "the father of the Enlightenment" and one of the great literary personalities of all time.

Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world. And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism.

When Candide is cast out of his sheltered life, he embarks on a journey filled with war, natural disasters, betrayal, and heartbreak—all while clinging to the optimistic philosophy of his mentor, Pangloss. As he travels across Europe and the Americas, encountering a bizarre array of characters and suffering the harsh realities of life, Candide’s faith in idealism is repeatedly tested. In this classic satire, Voltaire skewers the pretensions of philosophy, religion, and social systems, offering a compelling critique of human nature.

Candide est un jeune garçon vivant au château du baron de Thunderten-tronckh qui se trouve en Westphalie. Il a pour maître Pangloss, philosophe qui enseigne la "métaphysico-théologo-cosmolonigologie", et qui professait, à l'instar de Leibniz, que l'on vit dans le meilleur des mondes possibles.

Candide, is a French satire written in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. One of the finest satires ever written, this lively tale follows the absurdly melodramatic adventures of the youthful Candide, who is forced into the army, flogged, shipwrecked, betrayed, robbed, separated from his beloved Cunégonde, and tortured by the Inquisition. As Candide witnesses calamity upon calamity, he becomes disillusioned and discovers that all is not always for the best....

Candide, the illegitimate nephew of a German baron and student of eternal optimist Pangloss, is living a simple and sheltered life in "the best of all possible worlds." But when Candide falls in love with the wrong woman, his uncle's young daughter, he is exiled from the baron's castle and suffers great tragedy and catastrophe, which leaves him disillusioned and questioning the goodness of the universe.

Candide and his tutor Pangloss travel the globe trying to follow the philosophy "All is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds". However, they are stung and let down at every turn, being robbed, tortured, and ridiculed, amongst other trials. On hearing about their often disasterous travels, a listener feels unfortunately less than empathetic, and can't help themselves laughing out loud at this very funny account of the trail our optimistic travellers take.

Something between a tale and a polemic, these 'fables of reason' are feats of narrative compression and contain much of Voltaire's best and funniest writing. From ribald tales of adultery to conversations between cosmic travellers, the stories in this collection pose moral, philosophical and social questions. Listener and protagonist alike find their assumptions challenged as Voltaire mingles rationality and fantasy.

The story follows the eponymous hero and his tutor Doctor Pangloss through a series of adventures and misfortunes, all the time doggedly attempting, against the odds, to adhere to the doctor's philosophy that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds".

Tous les événements sont enchaînés dans le meilleur des mondes possibles : car enfin si vous n'aviez pas été chassé d'un beau château à grands coups de pied dans le derrière pour l'amour de mademoiselle Cunégonde, si vous n'aviez pas été mis à l'Inquisition, si vous n'aviez pas donné un bon coup d'épée au baron, si vous n'aviez pas perdu vos moutons du bon pays d'Eldorado, vous ne mangeriez pas ici des cédrats confits et des pistaches.

Voltaire's razor-sharp satire on philosophical optimism, Candide, is coupled here with another of the author's most celebrated works, Zadig. Both challenge the moral and philosophical orthodoxies of the day with humor and sly wit, while parodying the clichéd formulas of so many contemporary novels.

Voltaire, einer der schärfsten Denker der Aufklärung, veröffentlichte Candide im Jahr 1759 – ein Jahr, das nicht zufällig gewählt war. Europa war erschüttert vom Siebenjährigen Krieg, das Erdbeben von Lissabon 1755 hatte die metaphysischen Fundamente der Theodizee erschüttert, und die katholische Kirche stand zunehmend unter intellektuellem Beschuss. In diesem Kontext entfaltet Candide seine subversive Kraft: als satirischer Roman, als philosophisches Pamphlet und als literarisches Meisterwerk. Im Zentrum der Erzählung steht die Figur des Dr.

Après avoir échoué dans sa collaboration à l'Encyclopédie, Voltaire conçoit l'idée de condenser dans un seul ouvrage l'essentiel de ses pensées philosophiques.

The legendary ironic insightful classic by Voltaire, considered the greatest artistic genius of his era. Introducing the legendary, best-of-all-possible-worlds Pangloss. A whirlwind trip around the globe with irony, wit, insight, genius, and more at each stop.

Candide är en ung rik slyngel som bor i ett stort slott någonstans i Tyskland. Han är en optimistisk person, som i hela sitt liv fått precis vad han velat ha. När han ertappas med att kyssa sin släkting, den sköna Kunigunda, blir han dock utslängd från sitt hem. Det som sedan följer är en lång och svår resa, som går genom fångenskap, tvångsvärvning till den Bulgariska armén. Kriget som sedan följer är svårt och våldsamt, där slakt och krigsbrott hör till vardagen.

The French Classics Collection brings together 18 of the greatest works of fiction ever written in French - here collected into one audiobook and all translated into English. Featuring grand epics of love, loss, and survival, as in Les Miserables, to tales of adventure in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, and romances such as Madame Bovary, alongside many more grand stories from 17th, 18th, and 19th century France, this collection will whisk you away into other worlds with some of the greatest characters in literature within some of the greatest novels ever written.

"Zadig ou la Destinée" est un conte philosophique de Voltaire, inspiré d'un conte persan. Voltaire y raconte les mésaventures et les revers de fortune d'un jeune homme né à Babylone. Ce conte se place à la confluence de trois genres littéraires : le conte de fées (mis à la mode par Perrault et les Contes des Mille et une Nuits), le roman picaresque (Zadig décrit une ascension sociale, suivie de coups du sort) et le roman sentimental (Zadig relate les tribulations de deux amants éloignés par la vie).

"Candide ou l'Optimisme" est un conte philosophique de Voltaire, considéré comme l'un de ses chefs d'œuvre. C'est le récit du voyage de formation d'un jeune homme naïf, chassé du meilleur des mondes possibles à la suite d'une leçon de physique expérimentale. Voltaire y manie l'ironie à l'encontre du conservatisme de la société de son époque. Candide, le jeune homme innocent, après avoir vécu toutes sortes d'aventures autour du monde, finit par se transformer en philosophe.