The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. It 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. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759) Candide: or, The Optimist (1762) and Candide: Optimism (1947). They all retire to a country house where Pangloss persuades Candide to write his memoirs on this best of all possible worlds.Candide, ou l'Optimisme ( / k ɒ n ˈ d iː d/ kon- DEED, French: ( listen)) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. Once back in France, he is reunited with Cunegonde, Pangloss, and the mysterious lady. He next visits America, becomes involved in a racial clash, and is quickly married and divorced. Candide secures her release through blackmail and travels to Indonesia (where he escapes from native guerillas) and Moscow (where he accidentally precipitates a missile conflict between the United States and the U.S.S.R.). Back home, Candide is acclaimed a hero for murdering the Gestapo officer, but Cunegonde is condemned as a Nazi collaborator.

Candide kills the officer, and the lovers flee to South America to remain there through a series of revolutions before returning to France. After smuggling Pangloss out of a concentration camp, Candide is rescued from a firing squad by a mysterious lady who reunites him with his beloved Cunegonde, now being shared by a Gestapo officer and a black marketeer. Captured by the Germans, he escapes to Switzerland and becomes a member of the International Red Cross.

War breaks out in 1939, and Candide is called into the army.

Reared in the chateau of a baron who manufactures antique helmets, the orphan Candide is brought up by his tutor, Pangloss, to believe that he is living in 'the best of all possible worlds.' Candide falls in love with the baron's daughter, Cunegonde, and is thrown out of the house when her father surprises them in an innocent kiss.

Candide by voltaire