An individual of diverse interests and talents, Ian Chinich is a customer service representative with Automated Health Systems in East Providence, Rhode Island. He holds a master of arts in political science from Rutgers University and a bachelor of arts in political science with a minor in philosophy from Boston University. One of Ian Chinich’s favorite classical works is Voltaire’s Candide.
Candide’s status as a philosophical and literary classic can be justified on many levels. Its powerful economy of style, fearless contrarian nature, and distinctive juxtaposition of historical and allegorical themes all contribute greatly to its enduring resonance and relevance. However, the most striking element of this satirical tour de force is, without a doubt, its radical use of humor. Above all else, Voltaire was known as what John Butt calls the “wittiest writer in an age of great wits.”
At times, this wit is couched in the straightforward and relatively benign, and supports Voltaire’s assertion that Candide is “a perfectly frivolous work.” For example, when gently poking fun at Germanic nomenclature by employing ridiculously long names (such as Waldberghoff-trarbk-dikdorf), Voltaire comes off as silly and almost childlike. More often than not, however, he utilizes his sharply hewn wit to meet decidedly less frivolous ends, such as skewering the prevailing moral, philosophical, and institutional conventions of his day and, in the process, dissecting and deconstructing much of what we call “human nature.”
