Literary Pick (***)

Candide 

-Voltaire

Poor Candide! poor dumb, benevolent Candide!
I was quite shocked to read some of the outrageous things that took place in this little satirical novel, especially a work that was written c1759. Women being raped, sodomized, their butt cheeks cut off to feed starving Russians, slavery, male castration, women having sex with monkeys.. Voltaire really knew how to take wtf to psycho-like levels. I can see why it created such scandal back in it's day, but it doesn't read strained or contrived, it's all presented in a matter-of-fact style which is what made it so disturbing. Makes you wonder what kind of world Voltaire lived in, and what kind of things he experienced..or maybe he was just equipped with a sensational imagination. Comical and sometimes pathetic, I enjoyed this little novella. It was my first experience with Voltaire so I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of his works and philosophy. I also found out he was a deist. A doctrine I  have believed in for quite some time but was too fearful to openly admit, until recently.