CANDIDE

 

CANDIDE is an illustrated adaption of the Voltaire classic about the innocent trapped in this "best of all possible worlds". The adaptation follows the original storyline but spins it off into a completely new direction visually to give the 17th century humour a bit of a contemporary mirror.

The running theme of "Candide as the perpetual outsider" is portrayed by throwing a vaguely human charcater into a best of all possible universes populated completely by machines and autonotons of one form or another, which allows Pangloss, for example, to die in the Inquisition by hanging -- only to reappear very much alive in Venice. Another interesting visual thread is Candide's perpetual, youthful innocence even as all of those around him rust away or fall into disrepair.

The series is complete, at 30 plates. And exciting news about this: it's been made part of the Voltaire collection at the University of Trier in Germany -- not bad timing, considering 2009 is Voltaire's 250th birthday.

 

 

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