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Voltaire's Candide or Optimism, Introduction

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world has been a gayer place for readers. Voltaire wrote it in three days, and five or six generations have found that its laughter does not grow old.

"Candide" has not aged. Yet how different the book would have looked if Voltaire had written it a hundred and fifty years later than 1759. It would have been, among other things, a book of sights and sounds. A modern writer would have tried to catch and fix in words some of those Atlantic changes which broke the Atlantic monotony of that voyage from Cadiz to Buenos Ayres. When Martin and Candide were sailing the length of the Mediterranean we should have had a contrast between naked scarped Balearic cliffs and headlands of Calabria in their mists. We should have had quarter distances, far horizons, the altering silhouettes of an Ionian island. Colored birds would have filled Paraguay with their silver or acid cries.

Dr. Pangloss, to prove the existence of design in the universe, says [Pg viii]that noses were made to carry spectacles, and so we have spectacles. A modern satirist would not try to paint with Voltaire's quick brush the doctrine that he wanted to expose. And he would choose a more complicated doctrine than Dr. Pangloss's optimism, would study it more closely, feel his destructive way about it with a more learned and caressing malice. His attack, stealthier, more flexible and more patient than Voltaire's, would call upon us, especially when his learning got a little out of control, to be more than patient. Now and then he would bore us. "Candide" never bored anybody except William Wordsworth. Voltaire's men and women point his case against optimism by starting high and falling low. A modern could not go about it after this fashion. He would not plunge his people into an unfamiliar misery. He would just keep them in the misery they were born to.

But such an account of Voltaire's procedure is as misleading as the plaster cast of a dance. Look at his procedure again. Mademoiselle Cunégonde, the illustrious Westphalian, sprung from a family that could prove seventy-one quarterings, descends and descends until we find her earning her keep by washing dishes in the Propontis. The aged faithful attendant, victim of a hundred acts of rape by negro pirates, remembers [Pg ix]that she is the daughter of a pope, and that in honor of her approaching marriage with a Prince of Massa-Carrara all Italy wrote sonnets of which not one was passable. We do not need to know French literature before Voltaire in order to feel, although the lurking parody may escape us, that he is poking fun at us and at himself. His laughter at his own methods grows more unmistakable at the last, when he caricatures them by casually assembling six fallen monarchs in an inn at Venice.

A modern assailant of optimism would arm himself with social pity. There is no social pity in "Candide." Voltaire, whose light touch on familiar institutions opens them and reveals their absurdity, likes to remind us that the slaughter and pillage and murder which Candide witnessed among the Bulgarians was perfectly regular, having been conducted according to the laws and usages of war. Had Voltaire lived to-day he would have done to poverty what he did to war. Pitying the poor, he would have shown us poverty as a ridiculous anachronism, and both the ridicule and the pity would have expressed his indignation.

Almost any modern, essaying a philosophic tale, would make it long. "Candide" is only a "Hamlet" and a half long. It would hardly have been shorter if Voltaire had spent three months on it, instead of those three days. A[Pg x] conciseness to be matched in English by nobody except Pope, who can say a plagiarizing enemy "steals much, spends little, and has nothing left," a conciseness which Pope toiled and sweated for, came as easy as wit to Voltaire. He can afford to be witty, parenthetically, by the way, prodigally, without saving, because he knows there is more wit where that came from.

One of Max Beerbohm's cartoons shows us the young Twentieth Century going at top speed, and watched by two of his predecessors. Underneath is this legend: "The Grave Misgivings of the Nineteenth Century, and the Wicked Amusement of the Eighteenth, in Watching the Progress (or whatever it is) of the Twentieth." This Eighteenth Century snuff-taking and malicious, is like Voltaire, who nevertheless must know, if he happens to think of it, that not yet in the Twentieth Century, not for all its speed mania, has any one come near to equalling the speed of a prose tale by Voltaire. "Candide" is a full book. It is filled with mockery, with inventiveness, with things as concrete as things to eat and coins, it has time for the neatest intellectual clickings, it is never hurried, and it moves with the most amazing rapidity. It has the rapidity of high spirits playing a game. The dry high spirits of this destroyer of optimism make most optimists look damp and depressed. [Pg xi] Contemplation of the stupidity which deems happiness possible almost made Voltaire happy. His attack on optimism is one of the gayest books in the world. Gaiety has been scattered everywhere up and down its pages by Voltaire's lavish hand, by his thin fingers.

Many propagandist satirical books have been written with "Candide" in mind, but not too many. To-day, especially, when new faiths are changing the structure of the world, faiths which are still plastic enough to be deformed by every disciple, each disciple for himself, and which have not yet received the final deformation known as universal acceptance, to-day "Candide" is an inspiration to every narrative satirist who hates one of these new faiths, or hates every interpretation of it but his own. Either hatred will serve as a motive to satire.

That is why the present is one of the right moments to republish "Candide." I hope it will inspire younger men and women, the only ones who can be inspired, to have a try at Theodore, or Militarism; Jane, or Pacifism; at So-and-So, the Pragmatist or the Freudian. And I hope, too, that they will without trying hold their pens with an eighteenth century lightness, not inappropriate to a philosophic tale. In Voltaire's fingers, as Anatole France has said, the pen runs and laughs.

Philip Littell.

Introduction Introducción Introdução Giriş Вступ 介紹

INTRODUCTION

Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world has been a gayer place for readers. Ever since 1759, when Voltaire wrote "Candide" in ridicule of the notion that this is the best of all possible worlds, this world has been a gayer place for readers. Desde 1759, cuando Voltaire escribió "Cándido" para ridiculizar la idea de que éste es el mejor de los mundos posibles, este mundo ha sido un lugar más alegre para los lectores. از سال 1759، زمانی که ولتر "Candide" را در تمسخر این تصور که این بهترین جهان ممکن است نوشت، این جهان مکانی جذاب برای خوانندگان بوده است. Depuis 1759, quand Voltaire écrivit «Candide» en ridiculisant l'idée que c'est le meilleur de tous les mondes possibles, ce monde est un endroit plus gaie pour les lecteurs. 1759年以来、ヴォルテールが「Candide」を、これがすべての可能な世界の中で最高であるという考えを嘲笑して書いたとき、この世界は読者にとってより陽気な場所でした。 С 1759 года, когда Вольтер написал "Кандида", высмеивая мнение о том, что это лучший из всех возможных миров, этот мир стал более мрачным местом для читателей. 自从 1759 年伏尔泰写下《老实人》,嘲讽认为这是所有可能世界中最好的世界时,这个世界对读者来说一直是一个更快乐的地方。 自從 1759 年伏爾泰寫下《老實人》嘲笑「這是所有可能的世界中最好的世界」這一觀念以來,這個世界對讀者來說一直是一個更加快樂的地方。 Voltaire wrote it in three days, and five or six generations have found that its laughter does not grow old. Voltaire wrote it in three days, and five or six generations have found that its laughter does not grow old. ولتر آن را در سه روز نوشت و پنج یا شش نسل دریافتند که خنده هایش کهنه نمی شود. Voltaire l'a écrit en trois jours, et cinq ou six générations ont constaté que son rire ne vieillit pas. ヴォルテールは3日でそれを書きました、そして、5または6世代はその笑いが古くならないことを発見しました。 伏尔泰三天写完,五六代人都发现它的笑声不老。 伏爾泰用三天時間寫下了它,五、六代人都發現它的笑聲不會變老。

"Candide" has not aged. "کانادید" پیر نشده است. 「Candide」は熟成していません。 "Cândido" não envelheceu. “老实人”没有变老。 「老實人」還沒有老。 Yet how different the book would have looked if Voltaire had written it a hundred and fifty years later than 1759. با این حال، اگر ولتر آن را صد و پنجاه سال بعد از سال 1759 می نوشت، چقدر متفاوت به نظر می رسید. しかし、ヴォルテールが1759年から150年後にそれを書いたとしたら、その本はどのように異なっていただろうか。 然而,如果伏尔泰在 1759 年之后 150 年写完这本书,这本书看起来会有多么不同。 然而,如果伏爾泰在 1759 年 150 年後寫這本書,那麼這本書看起來會有多麼不同。 It would have been, among other things, a book of sights and sounds. در میان چیزهای دیگر، این می‌توانست کتابی از مناظر و صداها باشد. Cela aurait été, entre autres, un livre d'images et de sons. それは、とりわけ、光景と音の本だったでしょう。 Teria sido, entre outras coisas, um livro de visões e sons. 除其他外,它本来是一本关于视觉和听觉的书。 除此之外,它可能是一本關於景象和聲音的書。 A modern writer would have tried to catch and fix in words some of those Atlantic changes which broke the Atlantic monotony of that voyage from Cadiz to Buenos Ayres. Un escritor moderno habría intentado captar y fijar en palabras algunos de aquellos cambios atlánticos que rompieron la monotonía atlántica de aquel viaje de Cádiz a Buenos Ayres. Un écrivain moderne aurait tenté de saisir et de fixer par des mots certains de ces changements atlantiques qui ont rompu la monotonie atlantique de ce voyage de Cadix à Buenos Ayres. 現代の作家は、カディスからブエノスアイレスへの航海の大西洋の単調さを壊した大西洋の変化のいくつかを言葉で捉えて修正しようとしたでしょう。 Um escritor moderno teria tentado captar e fixar em palavras algumas dessas mudanças atlânticas que quebraram a monotonia atlântica daquela viagem de Cádiz a Buenos Aires. Современный писатель попытался бы уловить и зафиксировать в словах некоторые из тех атлантических изменений, которые нарушили атлантическую монотонность этого путешествия из Кадиса в Буэнос-Айрес. 一位现代作家会试图抓住并用文字来修正大西洋的一些变化,这些变化打破了从加的斯到布宜诺斯艾利斯的航程中大西洋的单调。 一位現代作家會試圖用文字來捕捉和修正一些大西洋的變化,這些變化打破了從加的斯到布宜諾斯艾利斯的航行中大西洋的單調。 When Martin and Candide were sailing the length of the Mediterranean we should have had a contrast between naked scarped Balearic cliffs and headlands of Calabria in their mists. Cuando Martin y Candide navegaban a lo largo del Mediterráneo deberíamos haber tenido un contraste entre los desnudos acantilados escarpados de Baleares y los cabos de Calabria en sus brumas. Quand Martin et Candide naviguaient le long de la Méditerranée, nous aurions dû avoir un contraste entre les falaises baléares escarpées nues et les promontoires de la Calabre dans leurs brumes. マーティンとキャンディドが地中海の長さを航海していたとき、私たちは裸の傷ついたバレアレスの崖と彼らの霧の中のカラブリアの岬との間にコントラストを持っていたはずです。 Quando Martinho e Cândido navegavam ao longo do Mediterrâneo, deveríamos ter um contraste entre os penhascos baleares nus e escarpados e os promontórios da Calábria em suas brumas. Когда Мартин и Кандид плыли по Средиземному морю, мы должны были наблюдать контраст между голыми скалами Балеарских островов и мысами Калабрии в тумане. 当马丁和坎第德航行在地中海的长度上时,我们应该在他们的薄雾中看到赤裸的巴利阿里悬崖和卡拉布里亚岬角之间的对比。 We should have had quarter distances, far horizons, the altering silhouettes of an Ionian island. Nous aurions dû avoir des quarts de distance, des horizons lointains, les silhouettes changeantes d'une île ionienne. 四分の一の距離、遠い地平線、イオニア諸島の変化するシルエットが必要でした。 Deveríamos ter um quarto de distância, horizontes distantes, as silhuetas alteradas de uma ilha jônica. Мы должны были увидеть четверть расстояния, дальние горизонты, меняющиеся силуэты ионических островов. Ми повинні були мати чверть відстані, далекі горизонти, змінювані силуети Іонічного острова. 我们应该有四分之一的距离,遥远的视野,爱奥尼亚岛不断变化的轮廓。 Colored birds would have filled Paraguay with their silver or acid cries. Farbige Vögel hätten Paraguay mit ihren silbernen oder sauren Schreien erfüllt. Colored birds would have filled Paraguay with their silver or acid cries. Des oiseaux de couleur auraient rempli le Paraguay de leurs cris d'argent ou d'acide. 着色された鳥はパラグアイを銀や酸の叫びで満たしたでしょう。 Pássaros coloridos teriam enchido o Paraguai com seus gritos prateados ou ácidos. Разноцветные птицы наполнили бы Парагвай своими серебряными или кислотными криками.

Dr. Pangloss, to prove the existence of design in the universe, says [Pg viii]that noses were made to carry spectacles, and so we have spectacles. Dr. Pangloss sagt, um das Vorhandensein von Design im Universum zu beweisen, [Pg viii]dass Nasen gemacht wurden, um Brillen zu tragen, und so haben wir Brillen. パングロス博士は、宇宙にデザインが存在することを証明するために、[Pg viii]眼鏡を運ぶために鼻が作られたので、眼鏡を持っていると言います。 A modern satirist would not try to paint with Voltaire’s quick brush the doctrine that he wanted to expose. 現代のサティリストは、ヴォルテールの素早い筆で彼が公開したい教義を描き込もうとはしませんでした。 Um satirista moderno não tentaria pintar com o pincel rápido de Voltaire a doutrina que ele queria expor. Современный сатирик не стал бы пытаться нарисовать быстрой кистью Вольтера доктрину, которую он хотел разоблачить. And he would choose a more complicated doctrine than Dr. Pangloss’s optimism, would study it more closely, feel his destructive way about it with a more learned and caressing malice. そして、彼はパングロス博士の楽観主義よりも複雑な教義を選び、それをより綿密に研究し、より学び、愛撫する悪意でそれについての彼の破壊的な方法を感じました。 E ele escolheria uma doutrina mais complicada do que o otimismo do Dr. Pangloss, a estudaria mais de perto, sentiria sua maneira destrutiva sobre ela com uma malícia mais aprendida e acariciante. И он выбрал бы более сложную доктрину, чем оптимизм доктора Панглосса, изучил бы ее более тщательно, прочувствовал бы ее разрушительный путь с более познанной и ласковой злобой. His attack, stealthier, more flexible and more patient than Voltaire’s, would call upon us, especially when his learning got a little out of control, to be more than patient. ヴォルテールよりもステルスで柔軟性があり、忍耐強い彼の攻撃は、特に彼の学習が少し手に負えなくなったときに、忍耐強い以上のものであるように私たちに要求するでしょう。 Seu ataque, mais furtivo, mais flexível e mais paciente que o de Voltaire, nos convidaria, especialmente quando seu aprendizado ficar um pouco fora de controle, para sermos mais do que pacientes. Его атака, более скрытная, гибкая и терпеливая, чем у Вольтера, призывала нас, особенно когда его обучение выходило из-под контроля, быть более чем терпеливыми. Now and then he would bore us. 時々彼は私たちを退屈させました。 De vez em quando ele nos entediava. "Candide" never bored anybody except William Wordsworth. "Candide" nunca aborreceu ninguém, exceto William Wordsworth. "Кандид" не наскучил никому, кроме Уильяма Вордсворта. Voltaire’s men and women point his case against optimism by starting high and falling low. ヴォルテールの男性と女性は、高く始めて低くなることによって楽観主義に反対する彼の主張を指摘しています。 Os homens e mulheres de Voltaire apontam seu caso contra o otimismo começando alto e caindo baixo. Мужчины и женщины у Вольтера выступают против оптимизма, начиная с высоких и заканчивая низкими. A modern could not go about it after this fashion. 現代人はこのファッションの後でそれについて行くことができませんでした。 Um moderno não poderia fazer isso dessa maneira. Современный человек не смог бы пойти по этому пути. He would not plunge his people into an unfamiliar misery. 彼は自分の民をなじみのない惨めさに陥らせることはしませんでした。 Ele não mergulharia seu povo em uma miséria desconhecida. Он не хотел ввергать свой народ в незнакомые страдания. He would just keep them in the misery they were born to. 彼は彼らが生まれた悲惨な状況に彼らを留めておくだけでした。

But such an account of Voltaire’s procedure is as misleading as the plaster cast of a dance. しかし、ヴォルテールの手順のそのような説明は、ダンスの石膏のキャストと同じくらい誤解を招くものです。 Mas tal relato do procedimento de Voltaire é tão enganoso quanto o gesso de uma dança. Но такой рассказ о процедуре Вольтера так же обманчив, как гипсовый слепок танца. Look at his procedure again. 彼の手順をもう一度見てください。 Mademoiselle Cunégonde, the illustrious Westphalian, sprung from a family that could prove seventy-one quarterings, descends and descends until we find her earning her keep by washing dishes in the Propontis. 著名なヴェストファーレンのマドモアゼルクネゴンデは、71のクォータリングを証明できる家族から生まれ、プロポンティスで皿洗いをして彼女の家計を手に入れるまで、降りたり降りたりします。 Mademoiselle Cunegundes, a ilustre vestfaliana, nascida de uma família que poderia provar setenta e um quartéis, desce e desce até encontrá-la ganhando seu sustento lavando pratos no Propontis. Мадемуазель Кунегонда, прославленная вестфалька, происходившая из семьи, в которой насчитывается семьдесят одна четверть, все ниже и ниже, пока мы не обнаруживаем, что она зарабатывает мытьем посуды в Пропонтисе. The aged faithful attendant, victim of a hundred acts of rape by negro pirates, remembers [Pg ix]that she is the daughter of a pope, and that in honor of her approaching marriage with a Prince of Massa-Carrara all Italy wrote sonnets of which not one was passable. ニグロの海賊による百のレイプの犠牲者である年配の忠実な付き添いは、彼女が教皇の娘であり、マッサカッラーラ王子との結婚に近づいたことを記念して、すべてのイタリアがソネットを書いたことを覚えています。誰も通用しませんでした。 Престарелая верная служанка, жертва сотни актов изнасилования негритянскими пиратами, помнит, что она дочь папы римского и что в честь ее предстоящего брака с принцем Масса-Каррара вся Италия писала сонеты, из которых ни один не был проходным. We do not need to know French literature before Voltaire in order to feel, although the lurking parody may escape us, that he is poking fun at us and at himself. Нам не нужно знать французскую литературу до Вольтера, чтобы почувствовать, хотя скрытая пародия может от нас ускользнуть, что он смеется над нами и над собой. His laughter at his own methods grows more unmistakable at the last, when he caricatures them by casually assembling six fallen monarchs in an inn at Venice. Его смех над собственными методами становится все более отчетливым в последний момент, когда он карикатурно изображает их, случайно собрав шесть павших монархов в трактире в Венеции.

A modern assailant of optimism would arm himself with social pity. There is no social pity in "Candide." Voltaire, whose light touch on familiar institutions opens them and reveals their absurdity, likes to remind us that the slaughter and pillage and murder which Candide witnessed among the Bulgarians was perfectly regular, having been conducted according to the laws and usages of war. Вольтер, чье легкое прикосновение к привычным институтам открывает их и показывает их нелепость, любит напоминать нам, что резня, грабежи и убийства, свидетелем которых стал Кандид среди болгар, были совершенно обычными и происходили по законам и обычаям войны. Had Voltaire lived to-day he would have done to poverty what he did to war. Если бы Вольтер жил сегодня, он поступил бы с бедностью так же, как с войной. Pitying the poor, he would have shown us poverty as a ridiculous anachronism, and both the ridicule and the pity would have expressed his indignation. Жалея бедных, он показал бы нам бедность как нелепый анахронизм, и одновременно насмешка и жалость выразили бы его негодование.

Almost any modern, essaying a philosophic tale, would make it long. Почти любой современник, сочиняя философскую сказку, сделает ее длинной. "Candide" is only a "Hamlet" and a half long. Длина "Кандида" составляет всего полтора "Гамлета". It would hardly have been shorter if Voltaire had spent three months on it, instead of those three days. A[Pg x] conciseness to be matched in English by nobody except Pope, who can say a plagiarizing enemy "steals much, spends little, and has nothing left," a conciseness which Pope toiled and sweated for, came as easy as wit to Voltaire. Лаконичность, с которой в английском языке не сравнится никто, кроме Поупа, который может сказать, что враг-плагиатор "много крадет, мало тратит и ничего не остается", лаконичность, ради которой Поуп трудился и потел, досталась Вольтеру так же легко, как остроумие. He can afford to be witty, parenthetically, by the way, prodigally, without saving, because he knows there is more wit where that came from. Он может позволить себе быть остроумным, в скобках, между прочим, расточительно, не экономя, потому что знает, что есть еще остроумие, откуда оно взялось.

One of Max Beerbohm’s cartoons shows us the young Twentieth Century going at top speed, and watched by two of his predecessors. Один из мультфильмов Макса Бирбома показывает нам молодое двадцатое столетие, несущееся на огромной скорости, за которым наблюдают два его предшественника. Underneath is this legend: "The Grave Misgivings of the Nineteenth Century, and the Wicked Amusement of the Eighteenth, in Watching the Progress (or whatever it is) of the Twentieth." Под ним - легенда: "Тяжелые предчувствия девятнадцатого века и злобное развлечение восемнадцатого, наблюдая за прогрессом (или что это такое) двадцатого". This Eighteenth Century snuff-taking and malicious, is like Voltaire, who nevertheless must know, if he happens to think of it, that not yet in the Twentieth Century, not for all its speed mania, has any one come near to equalling the speed of a prose tale by Voltaire. Восьмидесятый век, злобный и придирчивый, похож на Вольтера, который, тем не менее, должен знать, если ему взбредет в голову, что еще ни один двадцатый век, при всей его мании скорости, не приблизился к тому, чтобы сравняться со скоростью прозаического рассказа Вольтера. "Candide" is a full book. It is filled with mockery, with inventiveness, with things as concrete as things to eat and coins, it has time for the neatest intellectual clickings, it is never hurried, and it moves with the most amazing rapidity. Она наполнена насмешками, изобретательностью, такими конкретными вещами, как еда и монеты, в ней есть время для самых изящных интеллектуальных щелчков, она никогда не торопится и движется с самой удивительной быстротой. It has the rapidity of high spirits playing a game. В нем есть стремительность, свойственная высокому настроению, играющему в игру. The dry high spirits of this destroyer of optimism make most optimists look damp and depressed. [Pg xi] Contemplation of the stupidity which deems happiness possible almost made Voltaire happy. [Созерцание глупости, которая делает счастье возможным, почти сделало Вольтера счастливым. His attack on optimism is one of the gayest books in the world. Его атака на оптимизм - одна из самых гейских книг в мире. Gaiety has been scattered everywhere up and down its pages by Voltaire’s lavish hand, by his thin fingers. Щедрая рука Вольтера, его тонкие пальцы разбросали повсюду по его страницам галантность.

Many propagandist satirical books have been written with "Candide" in mind, but not too many. To-day, especially, when new faiths are changing the structure of the world, faiths which are still plastic enough to be deformed by every disciple, each disciple for himself, and which have not yet received the final deformation known as universal acceptance, to-day "Candide" is an inspiration to every narrative satirist who hates one of these new faiths, or hates every interpretation of it but his own. В наши дни, особенно когда новые верования меняют структуру мира, верования, которые все еще достаточно пластичны, чтобы их деформировал каждый ученик, каждый ученик для себя, и которые еще не получили окончательной деформации, известной как всеобщее признание, сегодня "Кандид" является вдохновением для каждого сатирика, который ненавидит одно из этих новых верований или ненавидит любую его интерпретацию, кроме своей собственной. Either hatred will serve as a motive to satire. Любая из этих ненавистей может послужить мотивом для сатиры.

That is why the present is one of the right moments to republish "Candide." I hope it will inspire younger men and women, the only ones who can be inspired, to have a try at Theodore, or Militarism; Jane, or Pacifism; at So-and-So, the Pragmatist or the Freudian. Надеюсь, она вдохновит молодых мужчин и женщин - единственных, кого можно вдохновить, - попробовать себя в роли Теодора, или милитариста; Джейн, или пацифиста; в роли такого-то и такого-то, прагматика или фрейдиста. And I hope, too, that they will without trying hold their pens with an eighteenth century lightness, not inappropriate to a philosophic tale. Mam też nadzieję, że bez wysiłku będą trzymać pióra z osiemnastowieczną lekkością, nieodpowiednią dla filozoficznej opowieści. И я также надеюсь, что они, не пытаясь, будут держать свои ручки с легкостью восемнадцатого века, неуместной для философской сказки. In Voltaire’s fingers, as Anatole France has said, the pen runs and laughs. In Voltaires Fingern läuft, wie Anatole France sagte, die Feder und lacht. W palcach Voltaire'a, jak powiedział Anatole France, pióro biegnie i śmieje się.

Philip Littell. Philipp Littel. Philip Littell.