Pococurante and Perfectionism

In chapter 25, Candide and Martin meet an interesting character named Senator Pococurante (pococurante meaning to care little or be indifferent). As his name would suggest, he has very little appreciation for most things. He is an educated, Venetian nobleman who is rather blunt about his opinion. He has no desire to please others and maintains a high standard of perfectionism, meaning he is not pleased with something unless it is perfect. He is perpetually displeased by things around him. Pococurante is has a fatal flaw in which he holds reality to the standard of perfection, thereby never finding pleasure in it and wanting no part in it. By doing so, Pococurante throws away any chance at happiness.

He even says later in the chapter that “’I say what I think, and I couldn’t care less whether anyone things the way I do or not.” (pg 74). Candide remarked at the beauty of two girls waiting on them, and Pococurante said explained how he invited them to bed once he got tired of the society ladies, but got bored with them rather quickly as well. Candide remarks repeatedly on famous paintings, and how he admires them, but probably most likely just because of the name associated with them. Pococurante dismisses him quickly and details everything that is wrong with the art- it’s too dark, not accurate enough, not realistic enough, etc. The same occurs for the music that is playing before dinner, and extends into his dislike for opera. Pococurante thoroughly explains his distaste for the opera, saying it allows for the glorification of a single woman to sing a random song that plays no part in the story, and serves only to place her vocal chords on display, and additionally pieces together arbitrary parts and scenes just so one song or line can be used.  He finds the majority of his books boring and disagreeable and in bad taste, despite the enormous reputation the authors have for being revolutionary or well-regarded during this reputed age of great intellect and insight. Candide is dumbfounded when Pococurante says “’I read only for myself, I like only what may be of use to me’” (pg 72). He has no time for theories or the like, as can be seen when he is talking about Cicero and his endless doubts and concerns, ultimately deciding “’I didn’t need anyone else’s help if I was going to be ignorant’” (pg 73) and that the book contained no useful information.

“’I imagine’, he said, ‘ that a republican must find most of these enjoyable to read, given how free the authors were to write them?’

            ‘Yes,’ answered Pococurante, ‘it is a fine thing to write what one things. It is man’s privilege. Throughout this Italy of ours, people write only what they do not think. Those who live in the land of the Caesars and the Antonines dare not have an idea without obtaining permission from a Dominican friar. I would be content with the freedom which inspires these English men of genius if their passion for the party interest didn’t spoil all the estimable things that would otherwise flow from this precious freedom’” (pg 73)

Pococurante is saying that the people who have the freedom to write whatever they want do not take advantage of it, instead writing only of politics and inconsequential issues. He is suggesting that he would like their writing, should they chose to write about something worthwhile. 

During this entire chapter, Candide is searching Pococurante’s library/house to find something he would like, and is repeatedly discouraged. Candide likes what he has been told to like, and has a difficult time understanding that someone might not like the same things as him. Ironically, towards the end of the chapter, Candide exclaims “What a great genius this Pococurante is! There is no pleasing him!” (pg 74) and implies that he is now suddenly in agreement with all that Pococurante believes. Candide praises his selection and taste, and revels in the fact that Pococurante is such a freethinker, therefore must be the happiest man in the world, for he is not reliant on any of his belongings for happiness. Martin, as per usual, shuts him down and quotes Plato, saying that “the best stomachs are not those which reject all food” (pg 74) and eventually the argument boils down to the dead-end of there being “pleasure in not having pleasure” (pg 74). Even Martin sees the flaws of Pococurante, and forces Candide to consider the problems brought on  by perfectionism as well as the imperfections with the ideal, seeing as even the perfect Eldorado had it flaws. 

Questions:

1.     What do you think of Pococurante’s opinions? Do you think he’s right in despising anything that isn’t directly useful to him?

2.     What do you think Pococurante would find useful?

3.     Why does he play music and have all these books and paintings if he dislikes them so much?

4.     Does Candide learn anything from this interaction?

Candide Chapters 14-19 Presentation

Equality is a central theme in Candide. It plays a concrete role in each of the chapters 14-19. I will mainly be focusing on two sections, one from chapter 15 and the other from chapter 19. In chapter 15 we see the resurrection and rebirth of Cunegonde’s brother. A rebirth implies a spiritual awakening or enlightenment. The Baron was able to embrace Candide, exhibiting a small measure of spiritual growth by calling him his “brother” and “savior.” The use of these terms implies that Candide is now family, indicating that he is of equal status despite having a questionable lineage. The Baron does not see Candide as equal enough to marry his sister who has “seventy-two quarterlings.” Candide has served as savior to both the Baron and his sister Cunegonde, proving that his motives are nobler than those of the Jew and Inquisitor who took turns exploiting her. The Baron completely rejects Pangloss’s philosophy and his abrupt anger concerning Candide’s desire to wed Cunegonde is extreme. He holds on to his values until his death. This satirizes the importance the aristocracy placed on pure noble blood. Wealth and pedigree are valued over character, leading to a society filled with greed and corruption. Candide’s reaction to the Baron’s rejection is also noteworthy. He did not make a conscious decision to kill the Baron; it was more of an impulse, regretting it immediately afterwards. I could not figure out what Candide meant by stating “‘I am the best fellow in the world.” The only explanation I could come up with is that he is using sarcasm.

In chapter 19, Candide and Cacambo encounter an African slave with one hand and one leg. The entire hand was cut off because a finger was severed during an accident while the leg was cut off because the slave attempted to escape his captor, Mr. Van der Hartbargin. Candide has faced and witnessed many injustices in his journey so far, but views slavery as the worst. The tone of this passage is lacking in exaggerations, sudden impulses, and humor seen in almost every other misfortune discussed. The interaction between Candide and the slave is grave and serious. It holds a heavy air that indicates that slavery is the greatest evil when coupled with the fact that Candide renounced “Optimism” for the first time, especially after witnessing the “best of all worlds” in El Dorado. The cruelty shown to the slave had a greater impact on him than Cunegonde’s apparent death and Pangloss’s unjustified hanging. He refers to it as an “abomination,” out ranking his beloved Cunegone’s rape and exploitation. There is a similarity between Candide and the African slave’s viewpoints. Both see all men as equal. Candide understands all men to be equal through Dr. Pangloss’s teachings while the African slave cleverly interprets the Dutch fetishes’ teachings about the sons of Adam. He concludes that if the preachers are correct, whites and blacks are all “’cousins born of first-cousins’” and that the slaves should receive better treatment at the very least. 

Passages of interest:

“The Baron could not desist from embracing Candide. He called him his brother, his saviour. ‘Ah, my dear Candide,’ he said, ‘perhaps we can enter the city as victors, the two of us together, and rescue my dear sister Cunégonde.’ ‘There’s nothing I’d like better,’ said Candide, ‘for I was intending to marry her, and I still hope to.’ ‘You insolent man!’ retorted the Baron. ‘You would have the audacity to marry my sister who has seventy-two quarterings! I consider it great effrontery on your part to dare speak to me of so bold an intention!’ Candide’s blood turned to stone at such a statement. He answered him: ‘Reverend father, all the quarterings in the world have nothing to do with it. I have rescued your sister from the arms of a Jew and an Inquisitor. She owes me a number of debts, and she intends to marry me. Maître Pangloss always told me that men are equal, and marry her I most assuredly shall.’ ‘We’ll see about that, you scoundrel!’ said the Jesuit Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh and, so saying, struck him a heavy blow across the face with the flat of his sword. Candide, quick as a flash, drew his own and plunged it up to the hilt into the Jesuit Baron’s gut. But as he withdrew it, all steaming, ‘Dear God,’ he said, ‘I’ve killed my former master, my friend, my brother-in-law. I am the best fellow in the world, and already that makes three men I’ve killed, and two of them priests!’”

-Candide, Chapter 15 pages 35-36

“‘And is it Mr Van der Hartbargin’, said Candide, ‘who has treated you like this?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ said the Negro, ‘it is the custom. We are given one pair of short denim breeches twice a year, and that’s all we have to wear. When we’re working at the sugar-mill and catch our finger in the grinding-wheel, they cut off our hand. When we try to run away, they cut off a leg. I have been in both these situations. This is the price you pay for the sugar you eat in Europe. However, when my mother sold me for ten Patagonian crowns on the coast of Guinea, she said to me: “My dear child, bless our fetishes, worship them always, they will bring you a happy life. You have the honour of being a slave to our lords and masters the Whites and, by so being, you are making your father’s and mother’s fortune.” Alas! I don’t know if I made their fortune, but they didn’t make mine. Dogs, monkeys, parrots, they’re all a thousand times less wretched than we are. The Dutch fetishes who converted me tell me every Sunday that we are all the sons of Adam, Whites and Blacks alike. I’m no genealogist, but if these preachers are right, we are all cousins born of first-cousins. Well, you will grant me that you can’t treat a relative much worse than this.’ ‘O Pangloss!’ cried Candide, ‘this is one abomination you never thought of. That does it. I shall finally have to renounce your Optimism.’ ‘What’s Optimism?’ asked Cacambo. ‘I’m afraid to say,’ said Candide, ‘that it’s a mania for insisting that all is well when things are going badly.’ And he began to weep as he gazed at his Negro, and he entered Surinam in tears.”

-Candide, Chapter 19 page 48

Reading Checkpoint #2: Candide

Verify your presentation date.

Instructions:

Follow the basic steps for close reading in groups of 3-4 students each.

1. Read your selection individually and mark up any words, concepts, or connections that you think may be significant.

2. Join together with the other members of your group in going over the passage. Divide up references or words to research. Choose at least one word to reference in the Oxford English Dictionary. If there are any references to people or places in your section, look them up.

3. Share your findings.

4. On the entry dedicated to your group and passage, post individual comments in which you briefly outline how you would go about writing an explanatory close reading of your section. What would you address first? How would you proceed through the passage?

5. We'll regroup as a class and discuss as many of the sections as we can.

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 1

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 8, 18.

‘A Bulgar captain came into the room and saw me all covered in blood. The soldier didn’t take any notice. The captain became angry at this lack of respect being shown him by the brute and killed him where he lay on top of me. Then he had me bandaged up and took me to his quarters as a prisoner of war. I used to wash what few shirts he had, and I cooked for him. He found me very pretty, I must admit, and I won’t deny he was a good-looking man himself, with skin that was white and soft. Apart from that, not much brain, not much of a thinker. You could tell he hadn’t been educated by Dr. Pangloss. Three months later, having lost all his money and grown tired of me, he sold me to a Jew called Don Issacar, who was a dealer in Holland
and Portugal, and who was passionately fond of women. This Jew became much attached to my person, but he was unable to get the better of it. I resisted his advances more successfully than I had the Bulgar soldier’s. A woman of honour may be raped once, but her virtue is all the stronger for it. In an attempt to win me over, the Jew brought me here to this country house. I had previously thought that there was nothing in the world as beautiful as the castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh. I have been proved wrong.

‘The Grand Inquisitor noticed me one day during Mass. He kept eyeing me, and then sent word that he had to speak to me on a confidential matter. I was taken to his palace. I told him who I was. He pointed out how far beneath my station it was to belong to an Israelite. It was suggested on his behalf to Don Issacar that he should cede me to His Eminence. Don Issacar, who is the Court’s banker and a man of some influence, would have none of it. The Inquisitor threatened him with an auto-da-fé. In the end, under intimidation, my Jew agreed to a deal whereby the house and I would belong to both of them jointly. The Jew would have Mondays, Wednesdays, and the sabbath, and the Inquisitor would have the other days of the week. This convention has been operating for six months now. It has not been without its quarrels, for it has often been a moot point which sabbath the period from Saturday night to Sunday morning belongs to, the Old Testament one or the New. For my own part I have resisted both men up till now, and I’m sure that’s why they still love me.'


Pointers:

1. When Cunegonde describes being "sold" by the captain, what does she mean? Who is she "sold" to? What is her legal status (free or enslaved)?

2. What does Cunegonde think of herself and her early lessons from Pangloss given this turn of events?

3. Who is the Grand Inquisitor? Not specifically historically but institutionally speaking. Why would Cunegonde be at Mass in the first place?

4. What arrangement does Don Issacar negotiate with the Grand Inquisitor? Why do they dispute who gets Cunegonde on the sabbath?

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 2

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 8, 19.

‘Anyway, in order to ward off the scourge of the earthquakes and to intimidate Don Issacar, it pleased my lord and master the Inquisitor to celebrate an auto-da-fé. He did me the honour of inviting me. I had a very good seat, and the ladies were served refreshments between the Mass and the execution. I was horrified, it must be said, to see those two Jews being burnt, as well as that nice man from Biscay who had married his fellow godparent. But how surprised, how shocked, how upset I was to see someone that looked like
Pangloss in a san-benito and wearing a mitre! I rubbed my eyes, stared, saw him hanged, and fainted. I had hardly come to when I saw you standing there stark naked. That was my moment of greatest horror and consternation, the moment of greatest pain and despair. I can tell you truthfully, your skin is even fairer and more perfectly pink than my Bulgar captain’s. The sight of it lent added force to all the feelings that were surging through me and devouring me. I screamed, I wanted to shout out: “Stop, you animals!”, but nothing came out, and anyway my screaming and shouting would have done no good. “How is it,” I said to myself, when you had been well and truly flogged, “that nice Candide and wise Pangloss come to be in Lisbon, and that one of them gets a hundred lashes, and the other is hanged by order of His Eminence the Inquisitor, who in turn is in love with me? So Pangloss deceived me cruelly when he told me that all was well with the world.'

‘Distressed, agitated, beside myself with anger one minute and ready to faint clean away the next, all I could think about was the massacre of my father and mother and brother, the insolence of my ugly Bulgar soldier, and the knife wound he gave me, my bondage, my menial work as a cook, my Bulgar captain, my ugly Don Issacar, my abominable Inquisitor, the hanging of Dr Pangloss, that great Miserere they sang in plainchant while you were being flogged, and above all that kiss I gave you behind a screen the day I last saw you. I praised God for bringing you back to me after so many trials and tribulations. I instructed my old servant to tend to you and to bring you here as soon as she could. She has carried out my commission most capably. I have had the indescribable pleasure of seeing you again, of hearing you and speaking to you. You must have a terrible hunger, and I have a large appetite. Let’s begin with supper.’

Pointers:

1. What is Cunegonde's perspective on the auto-da-fé?

2. Is there any significance in Cunegonde's description of Candide's fair skin? See the various definitions of candid.

3. How does this turn of events reflect on Pangloss's teachings?

4. What is "that great Miserere"?

5. Cunegonde belongs to Don Issacar but she has her own servant. Does she understand her status as being higher than that of her servant in spite of her misfortunes?

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 3

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 10, 21-22.

‘But who can possibly have stolen my pistoles and diamonds?’ sobbed Cunégonde. ‘What shall we live on? How shall we manage? Where shall I find the Inquisitors and the Jews to replace them?’
‘Alas!’ said the old woman, ‘I have a strong suspicion it was that Franciscan monk who spent yesterday night in the same inn as us in Badajoz. God preserve me from jumping to conclusions, but he did come into our room twice and he did leave long before us.’
‘Oh dear!’ said Candide. ‘Good Pangloss often used to argue that the fruits of the earth are common to all and that everyone has an equal right to them. According to his principles, that Franciscan ought to have left us enough money behind to finish our journey. Have you really not got anything left, my fair Cunégonde?’
‘Not a maravedi,’ said she.

[...]

During the crossing they discussed poor Pangloss’s philosophy a great deal.
‘We’re going to another world,’ Candide would say. ‘I expect it must be there that all is well. For you have to admit, one could grumble rather at what goes on in our own one, both physically and
morally.’
‘I love you with all my heart,’ Cunégonde would say, ‘but my soul is still in something of a state, what with all I’ve seen and been through.’
‘All will be well,’ was Candide’s reply. ‘Already the sea in this new world is better than those we have in Europe. It’s calmer, and the winds are more constant. It is assuredly the new world that is the best of all possible worlds.’
‘God willing!’ said Cunégonde. ‘But I have been so horribly unfortunate in my own that my heart is almost closed to hope.’


Pointers:

1. Where does Cunegonde think wealth comes from? What does one have to do to get it?

2. What's the significance of the Franciscan thief?

3. Do Pangloss's teachings correspond at all with reality in their situation?

4. Why does Candide think that the new world will be better than the old?

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 4

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 11, 23-24.

‘My eyes haven’t always been bloodshot and red-rimmed, my nose hasn’t always come down to my chin, and I haven’t always been a servant. I am the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina. Until the age of fourteen I was brought up in a palace, next to which not one of your German barons’ castles would even have done as a stable. And any single one of my dresses was worth more than all the treasures of Westphalia put together. As I grew older, so I grew in beauty, grace, and fine accomplishments. I took pleasure in life; I commanded respect; I had prospects. I was already able to inspire love, and my breasts were forming. And what breasts they were! White and firm, just like those of the Medici Venus. And what eyes! What eyelids! What black eyebrows! What fire burned in my pupils and outshone the sparkling of the stars, as the poets in that part of the world used to tell me. The women who dressed and undressed me would go into ecstasies when they saw me, back and front, and all the men would love to have changed places with them.

‘I was engaged to be married to a sovereign prince of Massa-Carrara. What a prince! As handsome as I was beautiful, gentle and charming to a fault, brilliant in mind and ardent in love. I loved him
as one does love for the first time, I worshipped him with passionate abandon. Arrangements were made for the wedding. The pomp and magnificence of it! No one had seen their like before. It was one continual round of entertainments, tournaments, opera buffa. And all Italy composed sonnets for me, though not one of them was any good. My moment of bliss was at hand when an old marchioness, who had been my prince’s mistress, invited him to take chocolate with her. He died less than two hours later after appalling convulsions. But that was a trifle. My mother, being in despair and yet much less grief-stricken than I, wanted to absent herself for a time from so dreadful a scene. She had a very fine property near Gaeta. We took ship on a local galley, which was all covered in gilt like the altar of Saint Peter’s in Rome. What happens but a corsair from Salé makes straight for us and boards us. Our soldiers defended themselves as if they were the Pope’s own: they all knelt down, cast their weapons aside, and asked the corsair for absolution in articulo mortis.'

Pointers:

1. Do popes usually have children?

2. How was the old woman's early life?

3. Might the old woman's mother have had something to do with the death of her fiancé?

4. What's a "corsair from Salé"? Where is Salé?

5. Why do the soldiers behave the way they do -- "'as if they were the Pope's own?'"

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 5

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 11, 24-5.

‘I needn’t tell you how hard it is for a young princess to be taken to Morocco as a slave with her mother. You can well imagine all we had to suffer on the pirate ship. My mother was still very beautiful. Our ladies-in-waiting, even our maids, had more charms than are to be found in the whole of Africa. As for me, I was ravishing. I was beauty, grace itself, and I was a virgin. I did not remain one for long. The flower which had been kept for the handsome prince of Massa-Carrara was ravished by the pirate captain. He was a loathsome Negro, who even thought he was doing me a great honour. Yes indeed, the Princess of Palestrina and I had to be extremely tough to survive everything we went through up until our arrival in Morocco. But enough of this. Such things are so commonplace that they are barely worth mentioning.

‘Morocco was bathed in blood when we arrived. The fifty sons of the Emperor Muley-Ismael each had his own followers, which in effect meant fifty civil wars––blacks against blacks, blacks against browns, browns against browns, mulattos against mulattos. It was one long bloodbath from one end of the empire to the other.

‘We had scarcely disembarked when some blacks belonging to a faction opposed to that of my pirate appeared on the scene wanting to relieve him of his booty. After the diamonds and the gold, we were the most precious things he had. I was witness to a fight the like of which you in your European climates just never see. The Northern races are simply not hot-blooded enough. They don’t have that thirst for women that they have in Africa. It’s as if you Europeans had milk in your veins, whereas it is vitriol, fire, that flows in the veins of the inhabitants of Mount Atlas and that part of the world. They fought with the fury of the lions and tigers and serpents of their own country to decide which of them should have us. A Moor grabbed my mother by the right arm, my pirate’s lieutenant held on to her left, a Moorish soldier took her by one leg, and one of our other pirates held her by the other. In an instant almost all our ladies-in-waiting found themselves being torn like this between four soldiers. My captain kept me hidden behind him. Scimitar in hand, he was killing anything that stood in the way of his own particular thirst. In the end I saw all our Italian women and my mother torn apart, cut to pieces, massacred by the monsters who were fighting over them. My fellow captives and their captors, soldiers, sailors, blacks, browns, whites, mulattos, and finally my captain, all were killed, and I lay dying on top of a pile of corpses. Similar scenes were taking place, as you know, over an area more than three hundred leagues across: and never once did they fail to say the five daily prayers ordered by Muhammad.'

Pointers:

1. Why might the old woman be so dismissive of her experiences on 25 -- "Such things are so commonplace that they are barely worth mentioning?"

2. How does the old woman describe racial and religious power struggles in Morocco?

3. How does the old woman contrast Europeans with the "inhabitants of Mount Atlas?" Where is Mount Atlas?

4. Who are the Moors?

5. What is the irony in the events the old woman describes and the fact that her captors never fail to say their "five daily prayers"?

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 6

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 12, 28-29.

I grew old in poverty and dishonour, having but half a bottom, yet always mindful that I was the daughter of a pope. A hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but still I loved life. This ridiculous weakness for living is
perhaps one of our most fatal tendencies. For can anything be sillier than to insist on carrying a burden one would continually much rather throw to the ground? Sillier than to feel disgust at one’s own existence and yet cling to it? Sillier, in short, than to clasp to our bosom the serpent that devours us until it has gnawed away our heart? In the countries through which it has been my fate to travel and in the inns where I have served, I have seen a huge number of people who felt abhorrence for their own lives. But I’ve seen only a dozen voluntarily put an end to their wretchedness: three Negroes, four Englishmen, four Genevans, and a German professor called Robeck.*

‘In the end I finished up as one of the servants in the household of Don Issacar the Jew. He gave me to you, my fair young lady, as your maid. I have become involved in your destiny and been more concerned with your adventures than with my own. Indeed I would never have mentioned my misfortunes if you hadn’t provoked me to it a little, and if it were not the custom on board ship to tell stories to pass the time. So there you are, Miss. I have lived, and I know the world. Just for fun, why not get each passenger to tell you the story of his life, and if there is one single one of them who hasn’t often cursed the day he was born and hasn’t often said to himself that he was the most unfortunate man alive, then you can throw me into the sea head first.’


Pointers:

1. Any peculiarity in the old woman being the "'daughter of a pope'" (28)?

2. Why might a "'ridiculous weakness for living'" be "'perhaps one of our most fatal tendencies'"?

3. How does the old woman describe her experience of the world? Is unhappiness uncommon?

4. How do the old woman's observations compare with Pangloss's teachings?

Reading Checkpoint #2: Group 7

Voltaire, Candide, Chapter 13, 29-30.

They docked at Buenos Aires. Cunégonde, Captain Candide, and the old woman went to call on the Governor, Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza. This grandee had a
pride to match his many names. He spoke to people with the most noble disdain, sticking his nose so far in the air, speaking in such a mercilessly loud voice, adopting so high and mighty a tone, and affecting so haughty a gait, that all who greeted him were also tempted to hit him. He loved women to distraction. Cunégonde seemed to him more beautiful than any he had ever seen. The first thing he did was to ask if she were not by any chance the Captain’s wife. The air with which he put this question alarmed Candide. He did not dare say she was his wife, because in fact she was not. He did not dare say she was his sister, because she was not that either. And although this white lie had once been very fashionable among the Ancients, and could still come in very useful to the Moderns, his soul was too pure to be unfaithful to the truth.

‘Miss Cunégonde’, he said, ‘is to do me the honour of marrying me, and we humbly beseech Your Excellency to condescend to officiate at our wedding.’ With a twirl of his moustache Don Fernando d’Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza smiled a bitter smile, and ordered Captain Candide to go and review his company. Candide obeyed. The Governor remained with Miss Cunégonde. He declared his love for her and made protestations that on the morrow he would marry her, in the eyes of the Church or anyone else’s, just as it might please her lovely self. Cunégonde asked him for a quarter of an hour in which to collect herself, consult with the old woman, and come to a decision.

The old woman said to Cunégonde:
‘Miss, you have seventy-two quarterings, and not a penny to yourname. You can be the wife of the greatest nobleman in South America, who also has a very fine moustache. Are you in any position to make a point of unswerving fidelity? You have been raped by the Bulgars. A Jew and an Inquisitor have enjoyed your favours. Misfortune does give people some rights. Frankly, if I were in your position, I would have no scruples about marrying the Governor and making Captain Candide’s fortune for him.’


Pointers:

1. Where is Buenos Aires?

2. Why does the Governor resist Candide's claim to Cunegonde?

3. How does the old woman advise Cunegonde?

4. How does the advice given to Cunegonde -- "Are you in any position to make a point of unswerving fidelity?" -- differ with Candide's inability to lie -- "his soul was too pure to be unfaithful to the truth" (30)?

Voltaire, Candide, Chapters 1-7

Link to the PDF text of Pearson's translation of Candide

Candide, or Optimism, translated from the German (text) of Doctor Ralph

Overview and Close Reading Suggestions

General - generic significance of the narrative frame as picaresque or bildungsroman

"Translated from the German of Doctor Ralph Together with the addenda which were found in the Doctor's pocket when he died in Minden (in Westphalia) in the year of grace 1759" (1). 

Chapter 1- the role of "nature" in Candide's disposition, his questionable social status in the castle of Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, the Baron's own questionable distinction, "scientific" experiments

Close Reading: basic characterizations

Chapter 2 - Bulgars vs. Abars, Candide conscripted -- loses natural freedom, the King of the Bulgar's "clemency" -- Mildness or gentleness of temper, as shown in the exercise of authority or power; mercy, leniency (OED, 'clemency,' n. 1.a).

Close Reading: heroism versus freedom ("His feet were promptly clapped in irons...(6) -> "a clemency that will be praised in every newspaper and in every century" (7). 

Chapter 3 - Armies in war: "fine...dashing...glittering...well-regulated" armies vs. "hell," "heroic butchery," descriptions of depredations. Te Deums -- An ancient Latin hymn of praise in the form of a psalm, sung as a thanksgiving on special occasions, as after a victory or deliverance; also regularly at Matins in the R.C. Church, and (in an English translation) at Morning Prayer in the Church of England. (OED, 'te deum,' n.a.) Protestants in Holland (anti-papists) vs. Jacques, "a worthy Anabaptist."

Close Reading: description of warfare, paragraphs on 7-8.

Chapter 4 - Candide's "compassion" toward Pangloss's reduced state, Pangloss's rationalizations. The origins and genealogy of syphilis (10-11), the "charitable" Anabaptist's assistance

Close Reading: the mixed sources of Pangloss's disease ("Oh my dear Candide!" (10)..."'twenty thousand cases of the pox on either side'" (11).

Chapter 5 - The Lisbon disaster -- Jacques and the sailor, Pangloss's justification, encounter with "an agent of the Inquisition" (14)

Close Reading: Events on the ship (12)

Chapter 6 - The auto-da-fe -- Pangloss's punishment vs. Candide's, the Jewish "Portuguese" 

Close Reading:The auto-da-fe ("After dinner men came and tied up Dr Pangloss...the din was fearful" (14-15)

Chapter 7 - the old woman's inexplicable "charity" toward Candide -- Cunegonde still alive (picaresque conventions)

Close Reading: n/a

Voltaire

In-Class/Blog Discussion Questions: 
1. Why might Voltaire have called his hero "Candide?" (OED: candid, adj.)
2. Any insight into the name "Pan-gloss"?
3. What brings about Candide's exile from the "beautiful castle" (2) that he considers" paradise on earth" (3)? Any allegorical considerations?
4. Who are the first people to be kind to Candide following his exile? Why are they kind to him? What kind of a world does he venture out into?
5. What happens to Pangloss in the intervening years between Cunegonde witnessing him in the garden and Candide reuniting with him?
6. Why might Voltaire make the most "worthy" character in the early story (Jacques) an Anabaptist?
7. What is an auto-da-fe and how do Candide and Pangloss end up wrapped up one?
...

General

1. What are some connections and distinctions between rationalism and optimism? (links to OED definitions)
2. What does providentialism mean and how does this ideology bear on the story?

For Thursday 1/23:

Supplementary readings: Voltaire's Preface and "Poem on the Lisbon Disaster" for Thursday 1/23 and Rousseau's "Letter to Voltaire on Optimism" for Tuesday 1/28

From Pearson's Introduction: "Voltaire's faith in God had been severely shaken by the Lisbon Earthquake on 1 November (All Saints' Day) 1755 which killed 20,000 or more people; and his poem on the subject, published in 1756, is a devastating cri de coeur against Pope and Leibniz, not to mention the Almighty" (Pearson xix).

Engraving of the Lisbon Disaster

Excerpt from Voltaire's "Poem on the Lisbon Disaster":

Oh wretched man, earth-fated to be cursed; 

Abyss of plagues and miseries the worst!

Horrors on horrors, griefs on griefs must show, 

That man's the victim of unceasing woe, 

And lamentations which inspire my strain, 

Prove that philosophy is false and vain.

Approach in crowds, and meditate awhile

Yon shattered walls, and view each ruined pile, 

Women and children heaped up mountain high,

Limbs crushed which under ponderous marble lie;

Wretches unnumbered in the pangs of death, 

Who mangled, torn, and panting for their breath, 

Buried beneath their sinking roofs expire, 

And end their wretched lives in torments dire. 

Say, when you hear their piteous, half-formed cries,

Or from their ashes see the smoke arise, 

Say, will you the eternal laws maintain,

Which God to cruelties like these constrain?

Whilst you these facts replete with horror view, 

Will you maintain death to their crimes was due?

And can you impute a sinful deed

To babes who n their mothers' bosoms bleed?

Was then more vice in fallen Lisbon found, 

Than Paris, where voluptuous joys abound?

(Hazlitt, Candide -- from Voltaire, Works, trans. Tobias Smollett et al. (25 vols, London, J. Newbery, 1761-5).

Fundamentals: Close Reading Guidelines

What is Close Reading?
Close reading is a method of reading in which a reader focuses specifically on word choices
(diction) and other formal features of a text including but not limited to: tone; end rhyme,
internal rhyme, or flow of free verse; alliteration or consonance; repeated words or phrases;
and structural aspects of the text including organization, genre, identifying “speaker” and
intended “audience.”

In order to properly close read, you have to have the right mindset. I recommend thinking of a text as having a structure akin to an onion or pomegranate. Sure, the whole text is important, but the whole is composed of complex parts that fit together. Figuring out how all of these distinct layers or seeds of language and meaning come together to form a text is the goal of a close reading.

Why Close Read?
When you devote incredibly close and careful attention to a small portion of text, “small” meaning NO MORE (and ideally less) THAN

2 paragraphs of prose MAX!

You can often discover depths or layers of meaning that are not immediately apparent or significant in a quick read-through of a lot of material.

But isn’t the whole the sum of its parts and therefore the real deal?
Sure, but by carefully examining a well-chosen small part you can learn more about the whole.

When attempting to close read, consider: the choices of language on the word, sentence, and phrase level; imagery; word order; any symbolic language – metaphors or puns; punctuation; and rhyme or rhythm.

Not every passage of a work or excerpt from a poem is created equal, but as you close read
more frequently your attention will be increasingly drawn toward paragraphs with interesting
language and formal aspects that can grant you greater insight on the author’s expression.

Close reading entire works is long hard work – these kinds of readings end up in critical literary articles or book chapters.

In order to get you to pay the right kind of close attention to language and meaning 
and keep assignments relatively short, you have to start really small. Even two paragraphs is
probably too much prose – address one instead if you can. 

If needed, use ellipses [...] to eliminate material that does not contribute to your reading. 

How to close read:
Step 1: After you have read all of a selection – it's important to have a sense of general
meaning with which to inform your close reading, choose 1-2 paragraphs or a stanza or two
of poetry that you feel are important in terms of: the specific language used, making meaning in
the piece overall, new ideas being introduced or important words defined, places where
something is happening and you don’t know what it is, places where something is clearly
happening – a shift in the text. LESS IS MORE!

Step 2: Type out this selection yourself. Don’t just copy and paste from an online source, after
all, it shouldn’t be very long. Actually send your fingers over the words and you’ll find yourself
paying a different kind of attention to the way that the passage is constructed. Make it double
spaced – give yourself room to write by hand.

Step 3: Print it out and mark it up. Circle, underline or highlight key words. Draw arrows
connecting ideas or linking repeated words. Write questions you have about various parts of
the passage around it in the margins. You cannot be overly specific in a close reading. It is FAR
more likely that your initial treatments of the text will be overly vague.

Step 4: Using your marked up passage, start at the top. Explicate (analyze) the passage in your
own words, quoting KEY LANGUAGE from your selection. You should rarely quote a full
sentence in your close reading, if you do so, it should be to introduce words and ideas in their
original relation. General guideline: If you do quote an entire sentence, you should spend at
least two more taking it apart.

For more details see the Close Reading Assignment Sheet and Grading Rubrics.

Other resources:

• "How to Do A Close Reading" - Patricia Kain for the Harvard Writing Center
• Close Reading Poetry from the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
• A general, non-academic guide to "The Art of Close Reading" from The Foundation for Critical Thinking
• Tips for Close Reading (from an previous section of E314)

Voltaire's Candide, PDF & Reading Schedule

Here's a link to a PDF of the entirety of Candide (thanks to your classmate Alyssa's search skills).

This is the correct translation (Roger Pearson) with the same pagination as the new editions arriving shortly at the Co-Op.

Supplementary readings: Voltaire's Preface and "Poem on the Lisbon Disaster" for Thursday 1/23 and Rousseau's "Letter to Voltaire on Optimism" for Tuesday 1/28

Censorship Statement, due by Monday 1/20

E314 Banned Books
Censorship Statement

DUE by Monday 1/20 (MLK Holiday - no classes)

Overview
Research a written work or another kind of text (art, film, music, etc.) that has been banned or censored by some institutional body (school systems, the government, the Catholic Church, other religious officials, etc) to get a sense of what the work is about (especially if you haven't read it) and why it was considered controversial.

Write a comment discussing
(1) the nature of this work - what is it about, why was it found to be controversial?
(2) What measures were taken to ban or restrict access to the work.
(3) Whether or not you find these procedures to be right (ethically, morally, or intellectually).

Censorship Resources

• ALA (American Library Association) lists of frequently challenged books
• Wikipedia list of books banned by governments
• OCLC (Library Database) 112 banned books from the Top 1000 Books List (2005)
• The Index Librorum Prohibitorum (a list of books prohibited by the Catholic Church)-- background & list
• Wikipedia lists of films banned in the United States and worldwide
• Banned visual artwork
• Banned music videos @RollingStone
• Banned recording artists @Billboard
• The expression "I know it when I see it" 

"The phrase "I know it when I see it" is a colloquial expression by which a speaker attempts to categorize an observable fact or event, although the category is subjective or lacks clearly defined parameters. The phrase was famously used in this sense by United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart to describe his threshold test for obscenity in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964). In explaining why the material at issue in the case was not obscene under the Roth test, and therefore was protected speech that could not be censored" ("I know it when I see it," Wikipedia).

•  (VIDEO) New York Public Library Live discussion of censorship and other issues by authors Toni Morrison and Junot Díaz

Milton's "Areopagitica" word frequency cloud

Reading Checkpoint #1

Reading Checkpoint #1

Hint: Use CTRL+F or APPLE KEY + F to open a search and find field in your browser window. 

1. To whom is Areopagitica addressed? What is the goal of Milton's speech? 

(Find “for though I should affirme and hold by argument…” & “If ye be thus resolv’d”)

 2. Why is Milton concerned about censors, especially ‘Imprimatur’ (check the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for clarification)?

Access the OED on http://lib.utexas.edu/ ‐> Click the 'Databases' tab on SCOUT search -> 'O' -> 'OED (Oxford English Dictionary) 

Campus computers automatically sign-in. If you are working elsewhere, you'll need to sign-in to the Library website with your UT EID and password. 

 3. Who are the primary victims of censorship?

(Find "manifest hurt it causes")

4. Using the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) -- see instructions above for question 2 -- discuss the differences between ‘scandalous,’ ‘seditious,’ and ‘libellous.'