Evergreen in its appeal, Candide makes us laugh at human folly and marvel at our reluctance to face reality and the truth. Voltaire's brilliant satire, first published in Paris in 1759, is relentless and unsparing. Virtue and vice, religion and romance, philosophy and science ? all are fair game.

Through the adventures of young Candide, his love Cunégonde, and his mentor Dr. Pangloss, we experience life's most crushing misfortunes. And we see the redeeming wisdom those misfortunes can bring ? all the while enjoying Voltaire's witty burlesque of human excess.

In this unique volume, readers who wish to follow every nuance of Voltaire's classic tale in the original French can do so with the aid of a new and exacting English translation on facing pages. Shane Weller's critical introduction illuminates the satire of Candide and the reasons for its enduring appeal.