SOURCE: Bottiglia, William F. “Style” and “Evaluation.” In Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century: Voltaire's Candide: Analysis of a Classic, edited by Theodore Besterman, pp. 243-97. Geneva, Switzerland: Institut et Musée Voltaire, 1964.

In the following essays, Bottiglia analyses the style and themes of Candide and offers a detailed examination of the text.

Style

Style is language which expresses and communicates a literary inspiration; it is diction organized toward beauty. The style of Candide is not naturally separable from its other component elements—which is why some attention has already been paid it in previous chapters. Yet there is something to be gained by isolating it artificially for purposes of close examination. Proof of this is found in studies of Voltaire's tales by Lanson, Van Tieghem, miss McGhee, and miss Flowers, and of Candide by Havens and Naves. Though not all of equally high value in their...