Zadig ou la Destinée (Zadig, or The Book of Fate; 1747) By Voltaire

An Autodidactic Corner Work

November 11, 1694 - Paris

Candide. 1758

May 30, 1778 - Paris

Voltaire played a very important part in my development as a reader.  In 1960, I was thirteen, I acquired a copy of a book that still shapes my reading life, The Lifetime Reading Plan by Clifton Fadiman.  I don’t recall how this came into my hands but it was like a revelation to me of something no one had ever told me before.  I had been an avid reader since about six.  I had no internet to guide me, no adults to lead me.  I just read at random mostly from the school library.  Now I was told by Fadiman that some literary works are immortal classics to nourish you for a lifetime,some books are great, that reading can enrich your life.

I began to read one of his selections, Candide, guided by Fadiman’s  short note.  

I saw somehow there was a wisdom in this book way beyond my years and the things I was told by adults.  Fadiman explained to me that Voltaire was “the uncrowned king of intellectual Europe,the most destructive of the sappers of the foundations of the old Regime destroyed by the French Revolution.”  I knew nothing about what this meant but I hoped  one day I would.  I am sure I had never before read a work not originally written in English and for sure not one written in the 18th century.

In his article on Candide, Fadiman also included Zadig in his Life Time List.

Still being guided by Fadiman i at last have read Zadig.  

Tales of exploration of exotic places were very much in fashion in 18th century France and England.  Zadig is very much in this category.

Zadig is set in ancient Babylon.  Zadig, a philodopher, decides to embark on a journey in search of wisdom, similar to that of Candide.  All sorts of terrible things happen to him. Then through great luck he continues his journey.  He goes from esteemed philosopher, to slave, to advisor to a Sultan, to being condemned as a heretic back to a receiving counsel from an Angel.

This is a more complicated plot than that of Candide.  There are interesting philosophical debates.  I am glad I read this.  To others, all on their own quest for wisdom, should read Candide.  Zadig is harder to get into, maybe the central character is less emphatic and their is no love interest or Pangloss.  That being said, it is worth The ninety or so minutes it will require.

Wikepedia has a good article on Voltaire