Dialectical Journal #5: Candide

Passages From The Text	Pg #	Comments & Questions
‘“Who’, asked Candide, ‘was the fat pig who was telling me so many bad things about the play I cried such a lot at, and about those actors I liked so much?’            ‘He is evil incarnate,’ replied the abbe. ‘He earns his living by decrying all new plays and books. He hates the up-and-coming writer, just as eunuchs hate the up-and-coming lover. He’s one of those vipers of literature that feeds off filth and venom. He’s a hack.’            ‘What do you mean by hack?’            ‘I mean’, said the abbe, ‘someone who churns out articles by the dozen, a Freron.’”	65	(R) Voltaire wrote this satire because he disagreed with the view of German philosopher, Leibnitz, that this world is the “best of all possible worlds.” He thought that statement was ludicrous, so he decided to write a book that shows just how crazy Voltaire finds that point of view to be. What I find interesting is, while writing this book that is supposed to make fun of Leibnitz’s theory, he also uses it as an opportunity to make jabs at other people. According to the back of my book, a Freron is not some kind of archaic insult. It’s actually a person. “Elie Freron (1718-76), an implacable and not always unjustified critic of Voltaire.” I think it’s funny how he took this book as an opportunity to mock all the people who annoy him. Killing two birds with one stone, I guess.