About the Book & Author [ Edited ]

[Jessica]

Candide by Voltaire

One of the finest satires ever written, Voltaire’s Candide savagely skewers the very “optimistic” approach to life as a shamefully inadequate response to human suffering.

The swift and 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 experiences and witnesses calamity upon calamity, he begins to discover that -- contrary to the teachings of his tutor, Dr. Pangloss -- all is not always for the best. After many trials, travails, and incredible reversals of fortune, Candide and his friends finally retire together to a small farm, where they discover that the secret of happiness is simply “to cultivate one’s garden,” a philosophy that rejects excessive optimism and metaphysical speculation in favor of the most basic pragmatism.

Filled with wit, intelligence, and an abundance of dark humor, Candide is relentless and unsparing in its attacks upon corruption and hypocrisy -- in religion, government, philosophy, science, and even romance. Ultimately, this celebrated work teaches us that it is possible to challenge blind optimism without losing the will to live and pursue a happy life.

About the Author: The French author François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born November 21, 1694, in Paris. He was a writer, and the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment.

Educated by the Jesuits in Paris, he studied law, then turned to writing. For lampooning the Duc d'Orléans he was imprisoned in the Bastille (1717–18), where he rewrote his tragedy Oedipe. This brought him fame, but he gained enemies at court, and was forced to go into exile in England (1726–29).

Back in France, he wrote plays, poetry, historical and scientific treatises, and his Lettres Philosophiques (1733, Philosophical Letters). He regained favour at court, becoming a royal historiographer, then moved to Berlin at the invitation of Frederick the Great (1750–53).

In 1755 he settled near Geneva, where he wrote the satirical short story, Candide (1759). From 1762 he produced a range of anti-religious writings and the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764). Always concerned over cases of injustice, he took a particular interest in the affair of Jean Calas, whose innocence he helped to establish. In 1778 he returned as a celebrity to Paris. His ideas were an important influence on the intellectual climate leading to the French Revolution. (From Biography.com)

Discover all titles and editions from Voltaire.

Message Edited by Jessica on 02-28-2008 11:28 AM

[Peppermill]

OK, now I know that I shall happily go back to using Foxfire as my browser -- I thought that I should be able to create an easy link to the description of a book in the B&N lists with the new text editor.  But, if that is possible, how is not obvious to me!

In exploring a bit of Voltaire's life, I became aware of his liaison with Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise Du Châtelet, translator into French of Newton's Principia.  This week I picked up a copy of Emilie Du Châtelet: Daring Genius of the Enlightenment by Judith Zinsser and this morning I spent perhaps 20 minutes to an hour with it (I lose track of time when reading).  I highly recommend finding a copy and spending at least long enough to read the final chapter and to peruse the illustrations.

For information on Zinsser, visit: http://www.users.muohio.edu/zinssejp

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Hi, Pepper--At the top of the Text Editor toolbar is a little blue ball (globe) with a chain link on it.  You use that to make links.  You click on it, and a little window opens up.  Then you copy and paste the URL of the page you want to link to inside of that.

Hope this helps!

~ConnieK

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Peppermill wrote:

OK, now I know that I shall happily go back to using Foxfire as my browser -- I thought that I should be able to create an easy link to the description of a book in the B&N lists with the new text editor.  But, if that is possible, how is not obvious to me!

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[Peppermill]

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Jessica wrote:

Candide by Voltaire

Discover all titles and editions from Voltaire.

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Nope -- on use of the editor for links, Connie. I want to do stuff like Jessica has here. I don't need or want to be able to insert the picture of a book, but I would like to easily exert a link and have the picture appear when the underlined word entry is right clicked. I can do it by manually creating the link, but I would like something that would allow me to select the link, enter the text, and then have the underlined text appear in the message. I don't think that should be particularly difficult to implement and I think it could help in advertising books!

[ConnieAnnKirk]

Hi, Pepper--

I've passed along your request to Jessica. 

~ConnieK

[Jessica]

Hi Peppermill,

When you embed a link to a book's product page using the Hyperlink button in the text editor (the globe w. a chain link), the pop-up should still render.

For example: Compulsion 

I clicked the Hyperlink button, then copied / pasted this URL:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Compulsion/Jonathan-Kellerman/e/9780345465276/?cds2Pid=18016

[Peppermill]

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Jessica wrote:

Hi Peppermill,

When you embed a link to a book's product page using the Hyperlink button in the text editor (the globe w. a chain link), the pop-up should still render.

For example: Compulsion 

I clicked the Hyperlink button, then copied / pasted this URL:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Compulsion/Jonathan-Kellerman/e/9780345465276/?cds2Pid=18016

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Jessica, let me see if I can do what you are telling me:

Compulsion

Okay -- that seems to work and it's "neat."  What I didn't understand was that I needed to highlight the word or phrase that I wanted to hyperlink before using the Hyperlink button -- I expected to enter that as a part of creating the hyperlink, but then couldn't figure out how to do that.

Now, please figure out a way to communicate how to use that button to people like Choisya, who figured that button would avoid the too long links that are the bane of all of us.  (See the discussion on Epic board under the Exploring Russian Literature thread.)  I think Choisya's assumption that the editor would create links that "wrapped" at appropriate page widths was a reasonable one.

Yes, we all stumble with this technology for awhile before we learn its new grammar, i.e., how to effectively dot the i's and insert the commas.

Again, thanks for the help.  Guess I am going to have to sign in under my Explorer browser more often when I want to do embedded links.  (Still haven't explored the Firefox add-in that is supposedly available -- have you gotten feedback from those who have used it?)

[Jessica]

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Peppermill wrote:

 (Still haven't explored the Firefox add-in that is supposedly available -- have you gotten feedback from those who have used it?)

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I haven't heard any feedback - sorry! (I'll take a look at the Epics board, too...)

[Peppermill]

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Jessica wrote:

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Peppermill wrote:

(Still haven't explored the Firefox add-in that is supposedly available -- have you gotten feedback from those who have used it?)

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I haven't heard any feedback - sorry! (I'll take a look at the Epics board, too...)

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Jessica -- thanks for the feedback and for your posting on the Epics Board!

[Peppermill]

Here are links to a number of images of Voltaire:

François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, known as Voltaire (1694-1778), shown here at 24 in 1718, painting by Nicolas de Largillière, 1718.

This location has a long list of images of Voltaire. I found it fun to flick through them, although you might want to skip some of the sculptures for the pictures if limited on time.

[Jessica]

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Peppermill wrote:
This location has a long list of images of Voltaire. I found it fun to flick through them, although you might want to skip some of the sculptures for the pictures if limited on time.

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Thanks Peppermill. These are great. I particularly like the Jean Huber paintings (esp. Voltaire Narrating a Fable). And the bald busts are beautiful too.

[Timbuktu1]

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Peppermill wrote:
Here are links to a number of images of Voltaire:

François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, known as Voltaire (1694-1778), shown here at 24 in 1718, painting by Nicolas de Largillière, 1718.

This location has a long list of images of Voltaire. I found it fun to flick through them, although you might want to skip some of the sculptures for the pictures if limited on time.

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thanks peppermill. I'd never seen an image of Voltaire before. My husband grew up in Paris, in Voltaire's apartment on the Rue de Rivoli. The tour buses used stop in front of the apartment to point it out. Hard to imagine how old that apartment was but the images of Voltaire really drive that home.