Author: Sir Richard Francis Burton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fencing
Languages : en
Pages : 176

View

Book Description

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliography
Languages : en
Pages : 908

View

Book Description

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bibliography
Languages : en
Pages : 906

View

Book Description
Official organ of the book trade of the United Kingdom.

Author: Henry Sotheran Ltd
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Booksellers' catalogs
Languages : en
Pages : 88

View

Book Description

Author: Madame de Staël (Anne-Louise-Germaine)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages : 436

View

Book Description

Author: By Voltaire
Publisher: BookRix
ISBN: 3736801785
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 169

View

Book Description
Candide is a French satire by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply Optimism) by his mentor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". Candide is characterized by its sarcastic tone, as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is arguably taught more than any other work of French literature. It was listed as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written.

Author: Henry Mackenzie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 262

View

Book Description

Author: Library of the Asiatic Society of Bombay and the Central Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1266

View

Book Description

Author: Hugo Grotius
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : International law
Languages : en
Pages : 374

View

Book Description

Author: John Wyndham
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0593450094
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

View

Book Description
The influential masterpiece of one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant—and neglected—science fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced.” “[Wyndham] avoids easy allegories and instead questions the relative values of the civilisation that has been lost, the literally blind terror of humanity in the face of dominant nature. . . . Frightening and powerful, Wyndham’s vision remains an important allegory and a gripping story.”—The Guardian What if a meteor shower left most of the world blind—and humanity at the mercy of mysterious carnivorous plants? Bill Masen undergoes eye surgery and awakes the next morning in his hospital bed to find civilization collapsing. Wandering the city, he quickly realizes that surviving in this strange new world requires evading strangers and the seven-foot-tall plants known as triffids—plants that can walk and can kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers.