Candide

Candide is a French satire work from 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. This lifestyle changes abruptly, and Candide goes through gradual and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world.