The Worst of all Possible Worlds Grotesque Satire

The Worst of all Possible Worlds Grotesque Satire and the search for meaning in Candide

Formal Properties and Narrative Forebears • Picaresque and the Novel of Characteristic Incident • Picaresque novels include Don Quixote and Vanity Fair and typically follow a transgressive character on seemingly-random travels; Candide flips the script but not the form. • As with many picaresque novels, the distinction between the Novel of Character and the Novel of Incident breaks down in Candide, because the incidents that move the story along are meant to proffer opportunities for the characters to react in ways that are meant to function as allusions to events and persons not explicitly included in the text.

Grotesque Satire • Satire: “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. ” • Grotesque: “comically or repulsively ugly or distorted” • Grotesque + Satire = ? ? ? • How does Candide use grotesquery to advance its satirical message? • What is that satirical message? • Is there any philosophical purpose to Voltaire’s satire? Is anyone spared?

The Travels and Travails of Candide

Continuity and Context • the Cartesian Mind/Body split • Debates over Optimism and Pessimism • Debates between Rationalism and Faith • the Platonic Framework • Colonialism • European Wars Timeline • European Historical Developments Timeline