{"product_id":"2026100009932-secondhand-candide","title":"Candide","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Very good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket - cloth\/board in good condition\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the most wickedly brilliant satires ever written, Candide chronicles the misadventures of its relentlessly optimistic young hero as he is hurled across continents and centuries, battered by earthquakes, war, religious persecution, and human cruelty, yet still clinging to the philosophy that this is the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire's razor-sharp wit tears apart the comfortable optimism of Enlightenment philosophy — particularly that of Leibniz — as Candide and his companions encounter a world that is anything but rational or just, from the grand courts of Europe to the legendary riches of El Dorado and the brutal streets of Lisbon.\n\nRendered here in the celebrated translation of Tobias Smollett and accompanied by the vivid illustrations of Antoni Clavé, this edition presents one of the 18th century's most enduring works of literary genius in sumptuous form. Voltaire's prose is both devastatingly funny and profoundly humanist, using absurdist comedy as a vehicle for serious moral inquiry — a technique that would influence Swift, Twain, and Kafka alike. For all its dark humour, Candide ultimately argues for a life of modest, purposeful engagement with the world: its famous closing line, we must cultivate our garden, remains one of literature's most quietly radical conclusions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49161018507483,"sku":"2026100009932-SECONDHAND","price":30.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/d78387c9-287a-4e71-9558-be0a67c1276f.png?v=1787189155","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100009932-secondhand-candide","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}