Voltaire’s Candide — a darkly satirical tale of human folly in times of crisis
- Written by Matthew Sharpe, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Deakin University
Atelier de Nicolas de Largilliere, portrait of Voltaire at 24.Wikimedia Commons“Italy had its renaissance, Germany its reformation, France had Voltaire”, the historian Will Durant once commented.
Born François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (1694-1778) was known in his lifetime as the “patriarch” of the French enlightenment....





