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Voltaire's ‘Candide’ — Analysis

of a Classic
a
Virgil W. Topazio
a
University of Rochester
Published online: 06 Sep 2013.

To cite this article: Virgil W. Topazio (1959) Voltaire's ‘Candide’ — Analysis of a

Classic, Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures, 13:2, 320-322, DOI:
10.1080/00397709.1959.10732606

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00397709.1959.10732606

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 320 SYMPOSIUM FALL 1959

mark: its errors and deviations are being corrected as fast as

they appear, and the great acquisitions are being carefully pre-
served. If it is a warring field, this is to the good, and ground is
being steadily won.

Syracuse Universi~ B. F. BART

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William F. Bottiglia: Voltaire's 'Candide' - Analysis of a Classic

(Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, Vol. VII), Institut
et Musee Voltaire, Les DeUces, Geneva, 1959, 280 pp,

The task undertaken by Professor Bottiglia in this full-length

study of Candide is a detailed analysis of Voltaire's literary de-
sign and a determination of the artistic justification of this "conte
philosophique. "
Professor Bottiglia reveals a perceptive mind and displays a
scholarship which is admirable. The impression one receives,
however, during and after the perusal of this monument to schol-
arship is that there was indeed much truth in Moliere's wise coun-
sel that even when virtues are pushed beyond the point of reason
they can become vices. For most of this book becomes virtually
unreadable simply because its pages are literally filled with ref-
erences either to Candide itself or to the scholarly works of Wade,
Naves, McGhee, Flowers, Torrey and Morize, to mention only
those which appear most frequently.
Obviously, in a work of this type, one of detailed analysis of
structure and style, one must expect many references to the work
itself. But when page after page takes on the appearance of hiero-
glyphics, the sight of which stifles the readers' interest and de-
stroys the continuity of thought, then the primary purpose of the
study has been defeated. The author sins most in this respect in
chapter vn on Structure (see especially pp. 181-183), though this
criticism is valid for most of the book.
Occasionally there is what seems to be unnecessary repetition
of material. For example, on p. 128 we find:
Thus, upon entering Eldorado, the travelers are described
as "nos deux hommes de l'autre Monde"; upon leaving it,
as "nos deux Voyageurs." At one point Voltaire speaks of
"ces caillous & ••• ce sable que nous nommons or & pier-
reries." At another, to back up Cacambo's knowledge of
the Peruvian language spoken by the Eldoradans, he be-
gins his mischievous explanation with the words: "car
tout Ie monde sait que ... n
 REVIEWS 321

Four pages later, in discussing the creator-showman role of Vol-

taire, Professor Bottiglia again refers to these same sections,
this time adding the somewhat superfluous textual references, su-
perfluous since everyone should be able to locate these readily
enough without additional guides:
It has already been pointed out that upon entering Eldo-
rado, they are described as "nos deux hommes de l'autre
Monde" (Cxvii, p. 107), and upon leaving it, as "nos deux
Voyageurs" (Cxix, p. 126); that in Eldorado Voltaire
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speaks of "ces cailloux & ••• ce sable que nous nom mons
or & pierreries" (Cxviii, p. 119), and supports Cacambo's
knowledge of Peruvian with an explanation which begins:
"car tout Ie monde sait que .•. " (Cxvii, p. 108).
On the other hand, this study presents a praiseworthy struc-
tural and stylistic analysis of Candide. It incorporates learned
and enlightening discussions on Voltaire's uses of irony and satire,
the role of character and social setting. A fair judgment is that it
presents the most thorough and comprehensive examination to date
of Voltaire's famous masterpiece. Professor Bottiglia on the
whole defends the need for some symbolic interpretation of the
work (pp. 240 ff.) but wisely rejects the far-fetched symbolic
meanings such as William R. Price's view of the precious pebbles
and the big red sheep of Eldorado "as Frederick's (the King of El-
dorado's) literary works, securely encased in red-bound sheep-
skin," which Voltaire (Candide) is forced to surrender at Francfort
(Surinam) where the pebbles also represent "large sums of money,
the equivalence of all that Voltaire had obtained from Frederick
during his stay in Prussia" (p. 123).
The chapter on style rvnn is especially interesting precisely
because its relatively uncluttered text makes it more possible for
the reader to enjoy the scholarly ideas of Professor Bottiglia.
Even in this excellent chapter, however, the author finds it impos-
sible to resist the temptation to catalogue all the documentation at
his disposal, even after the point he wishes to make has been suf-
ficiently established. At least so it seems. For example, after
discussing the rapid prose style of Voltaire, he goes on to show
that Voltaire at times deliberately employed a more decelerated
style with greater use of dependent clauses and conjunctions for
the purpose of contrast and parody. In support of this contention
Professor Bottiglia cites four passages (pp. 211-212). These, it
seems to us, would have been sufficient. Instead he gives at least
another half-page of references to additional examples of this
technique. Undoubtedly this detailed information can be important
to the specialist equally intent on a complete dissection of Candide.
For most readers, even those very interested in Voltaire, the in-
clusion of so much data can easily prove tiresome. The fault
 322 SYMPOSIUM FALL 1959

really lies in the decision to incorporate all the references and

notes in the text. If the author felt that all this corroborative evi-
dence was essential, the happier solution would have been to di-
vorce it from the running text.
Some of Professor Bottiglia's views will undoubtedly be ques-
tioned by his fellow scholars. For example, it is highly debatable
whether Candide would be a literary failure without its present fi-
nale (p. 91). Other readers will wonder, as we did, at the author's
compromise classification of Candide as a miniature classic (pp.
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248, 255). His reluctance to accept this work as a full-fledged

classic is difficult to understand in view of his own definition of a
classic (p. 240). His reservation seems to stem from his convic-
tion, with which many will quarrel, that a necessary criterion of a
classic is size, for he says, "Candide, then cannot, in quantity of
quality, measure up to the supreme classics" (p, 248). And he re-
peatedly speaks of Voltaire's "multum in parvo" technique. Yet
the pages from 248 to the end clearly indicate that Voltaire suc-
ceeded in accomplishing everything Professor Bottiglia requires
of a classic. We prefer to agree with Professor Torrey who finds
Candide "a classic masterpiece in every sense of the term."
But these are minor points. The work is very sound; it reveals
a wealth of erudition and a fine literary judgment. Unfortunately
the form it took, we feel, will tend to discourage many readers and
thus deprive them of the undeniable fruits of Professor Bottiglia's
scholarship.

University of Rochester VIRGIL W. TOPAZIO

Jules Brody: Boileau and Longinus. Geneve, Droz, 1958. 165 pp.

Writing on the date of Boileau's Traite du Sublime in Romanic

Review (XLVll [1957], 265-274), Professor Brody suggested, per-
haps sardonically, that a close examination of Boileau's relation to
Longinus might reveal that there is a great deal left to be said
about Boileau. Two months later his Columbia dissertation, Boileau
and Longinus, was published in Geneva, and now there is little left
to be said about the translator of Peri Hupsous: the last important
gap in Boileau scholarship has been filled. This task would have
to interest a Romance scholar who is at the same time an extraor-
dinarily competent Hellenist. Jules Brody brings to the problem a
sound method and an irreproachable knowledge of Greek. The ap-
pearance of this book does great credit not only to its author but
also to the intellectual milieu that produced it, by tangibly affirm-
ing the continuity of the classical tradition in the United states.