Surfing Ruined My Life

Book XX: Zadig, By Voltaire, 1747, 65 pages
“That the things of this world did not always answer the wishes of the wise and that men were in the wrong to judge of a whole, of which they understood the smallest part”. Ah satire and 18th century satire at that.  I must admit I have soft spot for this type of narrative.  From Gulliver’s travels, to the later Peer Gynt, to Voltaire’s own Candide I just cant get enough of them.  The funny thing is all of these stories are poking fun at the political and cultural environments of their time, yet are somewhat still appropriate today.  Times change, but people don’t and that is exactly what these stories show to me.  Like Candide  the story of Zadig is that of a promising good natured, honest, genuine, young man who is scorned in love, in knowledge and in moral.  despite all his hardships brought upon by following his heart he stays true to his own integrity of belief.  One must admire such.  I for one a lover of Candide may actually consider Zadig a better work.  It had me laughing out loud at times and out raged at others.  A definite read.

How about lets return to British Literature with the 20th century transcendentalist/stream of consciousness writing of Virginia Wolf and her ground breaking novel Mrs. Dalloway for book XXI.

With a mug like this I must say Voltaire had to be a pimp back in his time!