Robert M. Adams’s superlative revised translation of Candide provides the basis for this widely adopted Norton Critical Edition. The accompanying apparatus has been revised in accordance with recent biographical and critical materials.

The Backgrounds and Criticism sections provide important essays that shed light on major critical issues relevant to Candide and to the intellectual climate of the period.

In addition to the reports of five English visitors to Ferney, essays by Haydn Mason, Erich Auerbach, Ernst Cassirer, and Robert M. Adams are included.

The final section of the edition, "The Climate of Controversy," summarizes the debate surrounding Voltaire’s works and includes essays by Peter Gay, Raymond Naves, Gustave Lanson, and John Morley.

Preface to the Second Edition

The Text of Candide, or Optimism

　"Candide" and Mademoiselle "Cunégonde": A Note on Their Names

　Candide

Backgrounds

　Robert M. Adams·Summary: The Intellectual Backgrounds

　Voltaire·Well, Everything is Well

　Gustave Lanson·Voltaire at Les Délices and at Ferney

　Haydn Mason·[Gestation: Candide Assembling Itself]

　English Visitors to Ferney: A Sampling

　　Edward Gibbon, August 1763

　　James Boswell, December 1764

　　Rev. Nortoon Nichols, August 1771

　　Charles Burney, July 1770

　　John Moore and Douglas Hamilton (Eighth Duke of Hamilton), July 1772

Criticism

　Robert M. Adams·The Conte Defined

　A Checklist of the Contes of Voltaire, and Related Writings

　Erich Auerbach·[Tone, Pace, Insinuation]

　I. O. Wade·[Voltaire and Candide]

　J. G. Weightman·The Quality of Candide

　Ernst Cassirer·[Voltaire’s Escape from Pascal]

　Robert M. Adams·Getting the Point

The Climate of Controversy

　1.　VOLTAIRE’S FAITH

　　Voltaire: Letter on the Subject on Candide

　　Peter Gay: [What Did Voltaire Mean by l’Infame?]

　　André Delattre

　2.　VOLTAIRE’S GREATNESS

　　Joseph de Maistre

　　Victor Hugo

　　Edmond and Jules Goncourt

3. VOLTAIRE’S COHERENCE

　　Emile Faguet

　　Daniel Mornet

　　Raymond Naves

4. VOLTAIRE’S HUMANITY

　　Madame de Stael

　　Gustave Lanson

5.　VOLTAIRE’S STYLE

　　Hippolyte Taine

　　John Morley

　6. SHORT TAKES

　　Anatole France

　　Gustave Flaubert

　　George Saintsbury

　　André Bellessort

　　Emile Faguet

　　Frederick the Great

　　S. G. Tallentyre

　　Peter Gay

　　Stendhal

　　Richard Wilbur: [Pangloss’s Song]

　　Thomas Jefferson

　　Jacques Van Den Heuvel

　　André Delattre

　　Hugo Friederich

7. VOLTAIRE’S APOTHEOSIS

　　Paul Valéry

For Further Reading