Voltaire's Candide - Has anyone read this w/their dc?

[LisaNY]

Since we did some reading on The Enlightenment, I was considering reading Candide w/my 13yo. dd.

I read through an online excerpt of this, and it looks "doable", but I'd like to hear feedback from those who have actually read it through w/their dc.

Thanks! :001_smile:

[kleahey]

I just wanted to point out that Candide was the highlight of my sophomore year of high school and that I think everyone should read it at some point in their lives. It's one of the greatest satires ever written, IMO.

[K-FL]

I did the musical in college. While it's funny, it does have a good deal of s*x in it, just so you know.

[LisaNY]

I did the musical in college. While it's funny, it does have a good deal of s*x in it, just so you know.

Thanks for the heads-up. I will probably be reading this out loud, so I can skip any questionable parts.

On second thought - you said you did the play, perhaps the play is more modernized, and takes more liberty with the "suggestive" parts of Candide?

[Hillary in KS]

I enjoyed reading it in high school, but I don't remember too much about parts to avoid. Sorry!

Ds (12) and I watched the operetta last year and loved it. (There are a couple suggestive parts, but those seemed to go over his head. You could preview it, though, and then watch it with your dd. ) It was very funny! We still talk about wanting a little farm.

"Ah Candide!"

:)

[Anne in S'pore]

I second the suggestion to preview it. I would also make sure my child understood the difference between satire and real life portrayals. For what it's worth, I enjoyed it when we studied it at 18 but had classmates who didn't seem to know how to react to the satire because they took it seriously, if you know what I mean.

Anne

[Moira in MA]

I haven't read this with my dd's yet -- next year. However, I did read it, in French, in high school and it was definitely a highlight.

You may also want to consider Samuel Johnson's The History of Rasselas.

HTH

[Eliana]

I did it in French class, and enjoyed it, but it wasn't an amazing experience. It hasn't made the cut in my planning for high school (at least at this stage... things do keep changing!), in part because of content issues.

I would highly recommend reading a plot summary (here's one from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide)), as I recall, the content issues (s*xual encounters, r*pe, pr*stitution, STDs, be*stiality) are not easily skipped or glossed over (I can't imagine skipping it all an having the story make any sense), but I have not reread Candide for... oh 5 or 6 years?, so I could be misremembering.

Personally, I think a student would get more out of Candide at an older age once s/he has more experience and has read more history and literature... the satires will make more sense then, and I think more can be learned from it, but ymmv.

[LisaNY]

Thanks for the helpful responses, everyone! Perhaps we will skip it for now.